One Day
by S. L. Rode
Summary: (AU) After getting herself into a life-changing situation, Amy is sent to stay at Heartland, a horse ranch run by Jack and his grandson, Ty, where inmates work to rehabilitate and re-home abused horses, and help forge a new path for themselves. Based on episode 4.08 One Day and inspired by Anne Howard Creel's novel The Magic of Ordinary Days.
1. Chapter 1

The eastbound charter was cramped and uncomfortable. Eighteen-year-old Amy Fleming sat near the rear, close enough to the bathroom to make a mad dash when the rocking motion of the bus gave her motion sickness, but far enough away that the putrid stink that wafted out every time the door opened didn't catch her and make the nausea that much worse. She sat every which way trying to get comfortable, stretching out across the two seats she had to herself and trying to sleep, but even if the creaking and jarring of the bus didn't keep her awake, her own bitter thoughts would. She sat with her head resting against the cool window, watching miles of her life fly by to be left behind her. Gone were the city lights and tall buildings to be replaced with vast open space and snow-capped mountains stretching toward the sky in every direction. Darkness had fallen on day two of her journey east and according to the driver by morning they would be arriving in an insignificant little town Amy had never heard of until she was banished there by her own family: Hudson, Alberta.

"_You can't just send me away like I'm some black sheep that needs to be kept hidden!" Amy shouted at her father who had been caring for her as a single parent since her mother passed away when Amy was fourteen.  
"I'm doing this for your own good, Amy. You can't keep acting like this isn't a big deal!" Tim shouted back, throwing clothes into a suitcase he'd grabbed for his daughter.  
Amy was livid. "I'm eighteen. You have no legal hold over me anymore, so I'm not going!" She grabbed what her dad put in the suitcase and tore it back out to stuff into her open drawers.  
"Yeah? Alright, fine. If you won't listen to me, then get out!" Tim's arm jerked toward the door. "You're old enough to fend for yourself, you say. Are you old enough to take care of a baby too? Get a job, find a place to live, pay for all of the things you'll need to take care of this child?" They both knew she didn't. She was still in college, holding a part- time job and living at home to save on the cost of on-campus housing and tuition. But even if she did drop out, she was still going to have a year and a half of loan debt to pay back. _

_Amy was so angry and hormonal that she burst into infuriated and frustrated tears. "You can't do this to me, Dad! Why would you send me away to these people I never even met? Why can't I just stay here with you?"  
Seeing his daughter burst into tears, Tim's defensive posture relaxed and he sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "Because this isn't the place for you, Amy. You'll both be better off out of the city. Mr. Bartlett is a good guy, you'll be fine there." Tim was desperate, but so was Amy._

"_This isn't the eighteenth century. You can't just force me to hide out in a nunnery to have my baby when they'll take it and toss it down a well with the rest of the bastard children then force me to take the black, or whatever the hell it is they did."_

_Tim scoffed. "Stop being so dramatic. That's hardly the case."_

"_Then why do you make it sound like I've committed some horrible crime and this is my prison sentence. What am I supposed to do when I get there? Just hole up in their house like I've lived there my whole life? Am I supposed to raise my baby out there with total strangers? They could be sociopaths or something. How can you do this to your own daughter? I don't understand what I've done that's so bad you need to ship me off into the middle of nowhere." Amy's tears were no longer out of anger, but hurt and confusion. She felt betrayed. Tim kept saying he was just trying to do the right thing, but it really seemed like he just wanted to get rid of her and the problems she brought on by accidentally getting pregnant.  
But her father's decision was an ultimatum. Either she went out to some ranch in Alberta where she would have what she needed to get through this pregnancy and care for her child, or she was getting dumped out in the streets of Vancouver to fend for herself. There was a part of Amy that seriously considered her second option, but having lived in the city for as long as she had knew the chances of her coming out of that with clean hands, a healthy child, and a good life were very slim.  
"If you want to keep the baby, then this is what is going to happen." Tim told her firmly, not budging an inch even when Amy began to try and plead a bargain to earn her keep. It simply wasn't happening. She was going and that was final._

A lonely tear slid down Amy's cheek remembering the awful fight she had with her dad before leaving. How they didn't speak a word to each other at the bus stop, didn't promise to keep in touch, or wave goodbye as it pulled out of the depot. She was still hurt and angry with him for doing this to her, but she still felt guilty for ending things the way they did. She hoped her dad would come to visit as he promised when laying this deal on the table after Amy confessed her situation, at the time only to make it seem easier on her. But it all escalated to the point of blowing up when Amy was made to feel like she just became a burden her own father simply could no longer bear after having to take care of her by himself for the last four years. Adding a needy infant to the mix had just been too much for him to take.

Truth be told, Amy had been wanting to get out of her dad's apartment since she graduated. It wasn't the greatest place to live, especially not when his dealers came knocking. More than once Amy opted to stay at a friend's place rather than go home. She just didn't have the capability of quite making it entirely on her own yet, not while still in school. And now that she was pregnant and being shipped off to God knows where, her education was just placed on an indefinite hiatus. She didn't think she'd have been able to keep up with it when the baby came anyway, but she would have tried for as long as she could. It didn't matter anymore now that she was a thousand kilometers from home and just a few hours away from her life officially turning upside down.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I wrote a teaser for this story last spring and have been chomping at the bit to write the full thing ever since. Remember this is an _alternate universe_ story and a work of _fiction_ so some details may not be "realistic" or "canon" but are that way for the sake of making the story work. So, just enjoy it and feedback is always welcomed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you even know this girl?" Twenty-one-year-old Ty Borden tossed a hay bale down from the wagon to his grandfather, Jack Bartlett.

Jack grabbed the bale to drag into the barn and set inside the door, calling his reply over his shoulder. "I knew her parents well enough. Helped them out a while back with some legal affair." He gave the bale a kick with his boot before going back for another.

Ty tossed the last one down before sitting down to take a break and catch his breath. He hung his legs over the back of the trailer, pulling off his work gloves and dropping them into his lap. "Alright, so what does that have to do with this? Is she in some kind of trouble?" It wasn't exactly their role at Heartland to cater to troubled youth, nor were they a boarding house. They were a working ranch dedicated to gentling mustangs for adoption and re-homing neglected and abused horses with the help of the local penitentiary that provided the man power to do it all in exchange for giving the prisoners a sense of worth and time away from constant confinement. It certainly wasn't a place for a teenage girl.

"I guess you could say that. But her father called me in quite a panic, looking for a way to get her out of the city. Said it wasn't a healthy environment for her or… something," Jack mumbled, not really caring about the reason. "Truth of the matter was I felt sorry for the girl so I offered her a place here."

"To do what, exactly? I don't much think she'd be into fraternizing with our hired help," Ty raised his brow, and a valid point. A young girl surrounded by convicted criminals didn't mix well. At least not on any cop drama he ever saw.

"I suppose that's something we'll figure out when she gets here. If nothing else, she can earn her keep by keeping house. Not too sure she'll be in any condition to do much more than that." Removing his hat from his head, Jack wiped the sweat from his brow.

"You think mucking a few stalls is beneath her?" If there was going to be someone living on this ranch, they could be damn sure they were going to earn their keep. Even the dog worked for his supper. "The last thing we need is some hoity-toity city girl sitting on her ass expecting a free ride."

"Not saying I don't agree with you. She'll be earning her keep; but that kind of labor isn't something a pregnant girl should be doing." When Ty didn't respond, Jack turned to look at his blank expression. "Did I forget to mention that part?"

That little detail changed everything and Ty was on the verge of exploding as his mind short-circuited trying to get a handle on what exactly was going to be happening. "What do you mean she's pregnant? What the hell were you thinking agreeing to bring her here of all places? We're not equipped for that! Is she expecting to have the baby here? Are we supposed to take care of this kid?" Ty was flabbergasted, unable to comprehend what on earth made his grandfather think it was okay to bring a pregnant girl out to a horse ranch in the middle of nowhere.

Jack frowned at his grandson, holding a hand out defensively to get him to calm down. "Now just hold on there, Ty. I was thinking what could happen to this girl and her child if things were left to the alternative – whatever that might have been. She needs a place to go and I figure here is as good a place as any. Besides, it'll be nice to have some female company around here again with Lisa away in France."

"What about her family? The child's father?" There had to be someone else willing to take this girl in. Ty didn't believe they were the only people she could turn to.

"Well, her mother passed some years ago and as far as I know they haven't heard from her sister since. As for the child's father, I don't know about that either. Might be one of those situations where he got scared and took off." It was a shame how those things happened but that was all the more reason Jack really did think bringing her there to Heartland would be the best for them all, even if no one else seemed to agree.

"You said her father called. She can't stay with him?" Ty was grasping for anything he could think of. Looking past the fact that they weren't some kind of teenage maternity house, why on earth would they deem it a good idea to send some random girl out to a place she didn't know to stay with people she never met? Surely she didn't agree of her own volition.

"That's the thing. It didn't seem like her father wanted to have to deal with the situation. He sounded desperate. Give the girl a break, Ty. You have no idea how she must be feeling right now being made into some kind of problem that needs dealt with."

Ty shook his head, but just sighed in defeat, raising his hands to gesture as much. There was no way he was winning this one and might as well just find a way to live with it. "Alright, fine. But she still better not expect to lounge around the whole time. Pregnant or not, I'm not becoming her serving boy." He slid down from the tailgate, still finding it difficult to wrap his head around this whole bizarre situation. The only woman they ever had around the ranch was his step-grandmother, Lisa, and she was there as much as she was away during these summer months. It was definitely going to be interesting to have another roaming the property, especially with all the guys working the ranch that hadn't had any female company since their arrest and probably wouldn't for some time. That worried Ty, how they would react. If they would entertain themselves by tormenting her with inappropriate jokes, or if they'd respect her as they did Lisa and leave her be. It was hard to say.

"Maybe not her serving boy, but you're gonna have to be her chauffeur for today." Jack turned his eyes up toward the sky, reading the time by where the sun was positioned. "Matter of fact, you should probably shove off and head to town. Her bus should be arriving any time now."

Ty looked incredulous. "You're kidding, right? You arranged this whole thing, you go fetch her." He really didn't want any part of this. This was Jack's doing and could be his responsibility.

"Look, if we're all going to live here harmoniously, there's going to need to be some give from all parties. I can't imagine she's any more thrilled with the situation than you, and she's the one being shipped a thousand miles from her home. Now go give that girl some ounce of hope that she could actually survive here and just maybe you'll change your tune after spending the long trip back getting to know each other." Ty gave his grandfather a long, hard look, tempted to argue but knowing it would be useless. He was going, and that was final.


	3. Chapter 3

As much as Amy dreaded getting off the bus at her destination, it did feel nice to get up and stretch and breathe some fresh air. There were some rest stops on the journey but it was just a relief to know that she didn't have to climb back onto that rank, stuffy, charter. The downside was now there was no turning back. Hudson, here she was.

The driver climbed down to dig out her suitcases and placed them on the curb where she stood shouldering her duffel bag and looking around as if trying to locate a familiar face. Except she had no idea who she was supposed to be looking for. There weren't many people at the depot and none of them looked as if they were looking for her either. There was one lone man standing toward the rear of the bus that Amy started toward to ask if he was Jack Bartlett, or knew of him, but as soon as she took just a few steps he was greeted by a young boy that had been riding the bus just a few seats in front of Amy. Their reunion of smiles and tight hugs was touching to the point of being painful to watch and she stopped, obviously assuming wrong, and turned to drag her suitcases to the bench in front of the building.

The depot cleared out and the bus loaded up and headed back on the road to its next destination, Amy watching it go, leaving her behind all alone without a care in the world. She leaned back against the brick wall, staring out into the parking lot. "Nice job, Dad. They probably didn't even know I was coming," she murmured to herself as the minutes began to tick by. It would be her luck that Tim forgot to confirm her arrival, or they didn't care enough to make sure to meet the bus on time. It would have been helpful to have a phone number, or some way to contact them, but once again it was her misfortune not to have any of that and thus remain stranded until she was forced to figure out what to do with herself. She decided to wait until she was kicked off the premises and hope that someone showed up to claim her before it got dark. To pass the time, Amy pulled out the book she purchased at the first rest area to keep her sane through the journey and give her a reason not to engage in small talk with any other passengers.

As she read, her eyes drifted over top of the book any time a car would pull into the parking lot, watching the people inside get out and walk toward the building, hoping that one of them would be for her. Though most acknowledged her sitting there, none of them acted as if they might be looking for someone they didn't know.

An hour passed until an old GMC rolled up along the curb, the young man driving getting out and wandering into the depot without so much as giving her a passing glance.

"When is the bus from Vancouver set to arrive?" Ty asked the receptionist at the window.  
"It got here about an hour ago," she answered without looking up from her phone.  
"Crap," Ty mumbled under his breath, turning to head back outside. He hoped this girl didn't get tired of waiting and start wandering the town somewhere he'd have to try and find her. He didn't have time for those games.

Amy looked up when he came back out and stood on the sidewalk where her bus had been parked, looking around. She watched him carefully, waiting for him to turn around and notice her sitting there but he seemed to be pretty oblivious to her presence. "You Jack Bartlett?" she asked him, lowering her book.  
Ty turned around, his eyes falling on the petit blonde. "No. I'm his grandson. You're, uh, the girl I'm supposed to pick up?"  
The way he said that made Amy frown indignantly. "I have a name, you know."  
Well, this was off to a great start. "Sorry. I wasn't expecting to make this trip. My grandfather was supposed to come. I was, uh," Ty's eyes lowered from her face, causing Amy to shift her book to block his intrusive stare on her stomach, forcing it up again, "expecting you to look… different," he finished awkwardly.  
"Fatter, you mean." Amy said what he tried to be polite by not saying.  
Ty cleared his throat. "Kind of," he admitted in a low voice, feeling kind of foolish. When Jack said she was pregnant, he assumed that meant visibly.  
Amy closed her book and stood up, hoisting her duffel over her shoulder. "There's still plenty of time for that to happen, but that doesn't get you off the hook for not knowing my name."  
Ty smiled slyly. "Does that mean you know mine?" He challenged her.  
Amy scoffed to hide the fact that she had no idea of this guy's name. "Of course I do. You're Jack Bartlett's grandson. Or maybe you just prefer 'the guy that is late to pick me up.'"  
Touché. "Or we could just keep it simple. Ty is fine." He offered his hand for her to shake, at which she merely stared for a moment before shrugging her bag from her shoulder and dropping it in that waiting hand. Okay?  
"I'm Amy." She turned to pull the handle up on her suitcase and started rolling it toward the blue truck she saw him get out of, leaving Ty to grab the other. They tossed everything in the bed before climbing into the cab, Amy shifting over to the far side of the bench seat to lean against the door. Ty studied her a moment as he climbed in and got the truck started, trying to figure out if asking questions about her reason for being there would be appropriate, or more so accepted. He was curious to find out, if for no other reason than to know what they were getting themselves into, but the way Amy kept her eyes glued to the scenery was enough to make him think she wasn't interested in chit-chat.

Amy surprised him a few minutes later as they passed through town. "So, this is it, huh?" She asked, draping her arm out the open window and gazing into all of the mom and pop shops along the main drag.  
She didn't sound impressed and Ty immediately found himself getting defensive of his hometown. "It's not quite the thriving metropolis you're used to, but at least the people are friendly and we don't have to worry about locking our doors at night or getting mugged walking down the street."

Hudson was the definition of a small town – a close-knit community where everyone knew everyone and dirty laundry was impossible to keep clean or private. Rivalries were town-wide and those that were born there never left. Family names went back for generations to the town's founding a few hundred years ago – Bartlett being among the oldest. Unfortunately, it was also one of the few that would fizzle out as soon as his grandfather passed away, having had only a daughter and no son to carry on the name.

"Yeah, and I bet everything closes down by eight o'clock, too," Amy added sarcastically as they came to a stop at the single stop sign through town. She leaned out toward the diner next to her, squinting to try and read the hours of operation to confirm her assumption.  
"Nine, actually." Ty thought it was important to correct her, though she only laughed and settled back into her seat when they continued on, leaving the small oasis of civilization behind for the long 20-kilometer drive to Heartland.

And long it was. As soon as town opened up to an expanse of farmland and canola fields the truck became almost uncomfortably quiet. Usually, Ty was okay with the silence and rather enjoyed being alone with his thoughts, but this time he was all too aware of the judgmental passenger scrutinizing one field after the next, watching cow after horse after cow go by and trying to hold her breath against the horrid stench that seemed to hover in the air like smog in the city.

"My God, you really do live in the middle of nowhere, don't you?" It didn't take her long to realize just how far apart people actually were out there. Kilometers. She really was going to be stuck on that ranch, cut off from civilization and the modern world. The dread that had taken root the moment she was sentenced to this place began to branch out and further bloom.  
"Pretty much. It's about twenty kilometers into town and our closest neighbors are about five in any direction. But don't worry, there's plenty of company." Ty threw her a sideways glance.  
"No offense, but I prefer my company to be human and my conversations two-way." She really wasn't interested in making friends with something she'd rather eat. And if it smelled as bad as this drive indicated, doubted she'd be leaving the house or opening the windows.  
"You've obviously never been around horses before then. Sometimes their company is a lot better than a human's. But, we have plenty of them too, just as long as you aren't looking for any kind of girl talk." Ty didn't doubt some of the guys would be willing to humor her in that aspect, but it might not be the kind of conversation she'd bargain for.  
"Girl talk?" Amy raised her brow at him. Did he think she saw this as some kind of slumber party?  
Ty shrugged. "I just mean the only females we have around are animals and my grandfather's wife, but she's away for the next couple of weeks. So, you don't have much choice in the way of gender selection."  
Amy shifted to find a more comfortable position in the seat. She was so tired of sitting in cramped spaces. "Yeah, well, I didn't have much choice in my decision to come here so… I suppose that's just icing on a very bitter cake."  
Ty glanced her way, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel. "So why did you come?"  
Amy was silent long enough for Ty to think she wasn't going to bother answering, but eventually she did offer some sort of response. "Because it seemed better than the alternative."  
"Which was?" Ty prompted.  
Amy shrugged. "I decided I'd rather not find out." She paused, her eyes falling from the scenery to her lap. She had an inkling of an idea, and even that inkling didn't sound promising. So, she decided that if not for herself, then she would do it for her child.  
"What about the baby's father? Does he know where you are?" Ty knew it was probably a risky thing to ask and could instantly feel the discomfort that radiated off of Amy when she returned her gaze out the window.  
"No," was her brief response, but it was enough for Ty to drop the conversation and allow the truck to once again fall into an awkward silence. To drown it out Ty reached over and flicked on the radio, making Amy cringe at the twangy sound that came from it. Oh God, there were quite a few things she was going to have to get used to.


	4. Chapter 4

"So what exactly is this place… Heartland?" Amy asked as they began to wind down the driveway, her eyes lowering from the sign hanging above gate to take in the small herd of horses grazing along the side of the road in the afternoon sun.

"It's a rehabilitation center for horses and people," Ty replied, glancing in her direction and just waiting for her to make some snide comment, but instead she looked at him with a little bit of interest.

"People? Like drug rehab or something." _Great_. Not only was she a thousand miles from home, and any sort of civilization, now she was going to have to live on a farm with a bunch of druggies.

"Not exactly, though some of them were convicted for drugs. We have a contract with the correctional facility up in Calgary," Ty began to explain.

_Oh, convicted felons. Even better_. Amy shifted in her seat again, starting to feel really cramped. She needed to get out and move around. And, more importantly, pee. Her mistake for not going at the bus station.

"They bring about twenty guys down every day to work the ranch, some of them even work with the horses." Ty gestured to the transport van that was currently parked in front of the Quonset hut being unloaded for the day.

"So what are the horses here for then?" Amy asked, her eyes taking in a roan and a grey that were dozing in one of the corrals behind a wooden round pen.

"Help. We take in rescue animals from kill shelters and abusive homes. Places people left them to die because they couldn't take care of them or… no longer wanted them. We work with them to regain their trust in humans and hopefully adopt them out again to a new home. We also have a mustang gentling program where we gather a few that have been rounded up to be relocated or culled and break them to be ridden instead of killed." Ty had a lot of pride and passion for what they did at Heartland and it was obvious in the way he talked about his home. Amy noticed it, though she wasn't totally convinced this place was for real.

"And what if you can't help them? The horses. What happens to them?" Why she found herself asking so many questions about a place she didn't want to be, she had no idea; except if she was going to be living there, she might as well know where it was she was living.

"We keep them until we can," was Ty's short response, which made Amy curious as to just how many horses they had that weren't able to be cured or sent to new homes.

"Aren't you afraid those men will try to hop on a horse and run? Or… kill you or something?" Being from Vancouver, Amy saw her share of people getting stabbed or beaten to a pulp in dark alleys. The idea of them running amok with access to heavy machinery, tools that could be used as weapons, and a four-legged getaway vehicle didn't sound completely sane.

Ty chuckled, swinging around the cul-de-sac in front of the farmhouse to park next to his grandfather's tan and gold Chevy. "You just can't think that way. These guys are here to try and better themselves. Not having any trust or faith in them gives them no reason to do better if people just expect them to do harm. But that aside, my grandfather is a lot more frightening than they are and a pretty good shot. We've learned to have a mutual respect for each other, which goes a long way. They aren't all serial killers or rapists and the ones that are wouldn't be here if they posed a real threat. There's a whole screening process they go through," he assured her , sensing her slight unease. "They're here to work. They don't bother being sociable if they don't have to be." Most of them, anyway. Some were a bit more people-oriented and crude than others, but virtually harmless if you didn't take their jokes seriously. But, Amy would find that out soon enough.

"So, do they get like reduced sentences or something for good behavior?" Maybe she could, too. No phone calls or emails home begging to come back for a few weeks might get her back in the city. If she made like she was appreciative of her time at Heartland and that she was grateful for what her father did for her, maybe then she'd get to go home before the baby came.

Ty shook his head, easing the truck to a stop in front of the house. "Not usually. Their sentence is what it is and needs to be carried out whether they succeed in this program or not. It's volunteer, but not everyone who wants in gets in. There's a process and a training course involved before any of them can even touch a horse. The ones that have yet to complete the course, or don't do well in it, work around other parts of the ranch while those that do have their own project horse. It's their responsibility to figure the animal out and work with them until they're ready to be adopted out." Turning the key, he shut off the truck and leaned back in the seat, looking over at Amy who was watching the guys through the side mirror check in and disperse to begin their duties. "A lot of them end up working in the horse business when they get out. Or get into ranching."

She had to admit the place caught her interest upon learning its real purpose. It was different than anything she'd ever heard of before, but that didn't make her want to be here any more than she didn't want to be. "Sounds like a lot more work and effort to get through the time they could spend lounging around doing nothing."

Ty gave her a hard look. "Most of them want something to do to pass the time, and to get outside once in a while rather than sit in a concrete cell and stare at colorless walls all day, every day. After a while they actually begin to miss going to work every day, and here putting in a hard days work makes them feel good about themselves again." Ty reached for the door handle and gave it a shove open. "But don't take my word for it. If you can look past your prejudices you can talk to them and see for yourself." He climbed out and went around to pull Amy's suitcase out of the back, leaving her to stare at the empty space next to her feeling like a child that was just taught a lesson about morals. But that didn't make her feel any more inclined to get buddy-buddy with convicts and when she got out of the truck herself, remained close on Ty's heels as she took her duffel bag and followed him up to the house where an old grey dog was lounging in front of the door.

"Scoot, Lobo," Ty nudged the animal with his foot to get him to get up and shift sideways to let them pass. Amy smiled at the canine that began to sniff at her with interest. Dogs she could do. Horses, well, them she wasn't so sure about.

"Hello, fella," Leaning down Amy introduced herself to Lobo, letting him sniff her some more and giving him a rub between the ears to assure him that she was a friendly human. But the interaction was short-lived when Ty yanked open the screen door and shuffled Amy's suitcases inside. Catching the open door before it could swing closed Amy stood back and glanced down at the dog. "After you." He looked up at her curiously a moment then back into the house before squeezing between her legs and the door to go inside.

Ty had stopped just inside the kitchen to deposit her things, but left no time for her to get a good look around or say anything before he was frowning at the dog. "No, Lobo. Out." Ty's voice was stern, almost harsh, as he pointed toward the door and began to herd the poor animal back outside. "Rule Number One: The dog stays outside." He spoke to Amy in a way she did not appreciate, scolding her like a child.

Amy scowled at him as she stepped out of the way and watched him grab Lobo by the scruff of his neck and all but toss him out onto the porch, closing the door securely behind him. "It's like a hundred degrees outside. He looks too old to be left out in that heat." She felt sorry for the dog, wondering if Ty treated the horses and the people that worked with them as badly.

"There's plenty of shade and water. He'll be fine. My grandfather never allowed animals in the house before, we're not about to start now." It was just the way things had always been since Ty was a child. He never stopped to consider the fact that an outsider would disagree or see things differently, but before Amy arrived no one ever cared.

"Are there any other rules I should be aware of? No visitors after hours? Lights out at ten? Do you disconnect the phone lines and turn off the internet then, too?" Amy dropped her bag on the floor with the rest of them, looking around the surprisingly homey little farmhouse.

Ty rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "This isn't a concentration camp. Though we do go to bed early around here and the only internet we have is in the barn office and it's dial-up. I hope you weren't expecting five-star accommodations and free Wi-Fi."

Amy scoffed. "Hardly. I'm surprised you actually have indoor plumbing."

"Well there's an outhouse around back if you wanted a more rustic experience. I'd be careful going at night, though. Never know what you'll run into," Ty warned, once again picking up her suitcases and beginning to walk through the living room down the hall toward the bedrooms, leaving Amy to gape at him with a somewhat startled expression before trailing behind him.

"What kind of creatures, exactly, are we talking about?" She was from the city and where she lived the worst you could run into was a rat, or maybe a cockroach. Obviously it was different out there in the wild west but she hadn't looked beyond the typical ranch animals.

Ty shrugged as he stopped in front of a door and shouldered it open. "You name it,we've probably got it. Skunks, raccoons, badgers, grizzlies, coyotes, some wolves, not to mention the various species of poisonous insects."

"Snakes?" She was almost afraid to ask. The tone of her voice made Ty smirk.

"Some. Most aren't poisonous, though." He nodded into the room. "This one's yours. I've got to get back to work. Go ahead and do… whatever it is you need to do. Someone will be around if you need us." And then he walked away.

Amy stood in the hall and watched him leave, waiting until she heard the screen door bang closed, dousing the house into silence. She was left utterly alone and it was as she stood there in this unfamiliar place, expected to just settle in without so much as a welcome, that it began to really sink in just how alone she was. She knew no one here and the one creature she saw as a possible source of comfort was banished from being inside where she just wanted to hole up until this nightmare was over. She wanted to crawl into bed, pull the covers over her head and pretend she was home. After relieving her full and pressurized bladder, that was exactly what she did.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I am being very tentative with the details surrounding the inmate program as I know very little about it and am still conducting some research. So just bear with me on that.


	5. Chapter 5

Though the nights would not fair so well, Amy fell into a sound sleep that late morning not long after climbing beneath the cool sheets that smelled freshly of fabric softener. Well, at least they washed the linens beforehand. She had no idea whose room it had been before being given to her. Maybe just a spare bedroom for company, but Amy hadn't taken the time to snoop and find out, just wanting to lie down and rest, but most importantly ponder a course of action. Though try as she might, she found it hard to convince herself that her dad would change his mind within the next few hours, or days – even months - call her up, and say she was welcome to come back home. That everything would be fine and they'd figure her "situation" out, as he'd described it.

It would have been a great deal easier if Amy would have agreed to make it go away. She even got as far as the front door of the clinic before the guilt overwhelmed her and she ran cowering back to her car, sending a whole series of unfortunate events into motion that landed her there in the middle of nowhere. But no matter how badly she wished things were different and wanted to go home, she wouldn't have changed her decision to make it happen.

She resented her father for sending her away and regretted the course of events that led her there to Hudson, but did not regret her choice to keep her child, rather than dispose of it like unwanted trash. It was true she wasn't ready to have a baby, but that didn't mean she didn't want it. It was a part of her, living and growing inside of her own body. It both fascinated and terrified her as she felt the changes that began to take place in her body and started to see the physical ramifications as well.

When Amy woke up some time later, not having realized she even fell asleep, she rolled over onto her back and pulled the sheet from her head. The sun was still bright outside and a stuffiness had settled into the house as the midday sun beat high overhead. Brushing her hair from her face, Amy let her hand rest low on her abdomen that was no longer as soft as it once was, feeling a new firmness to her skin as her uterus began to shift and expand toward her waistline to accommodate for the growing fetus inside of it.

"It's just you and me now." She lowered her eyes and spoke softly to her belly, rubbing her hand over the baby. Or where she assumed the baby was. It was kind of hard to tell at the moment, but she humored herself by thinking he, or she, was aware of her touches and her voice. She knew that eventually it would be, if not right at that moment.

Sighing, Amy let her fingers continue to stroke her stomach as she took her first real look around the room she'd been assigned to. The walls were a forest green with some dark-stained wood bedroom furniture and a closet with sliding doors that were securely shut. There were no photos or any real décor aside from the maroon curtains that were drawn back to allow light to filter in. Through the windows Amy could see pieces of the yard between the branches of shrubbery. It reminded her again of where she was and the people that she was inhabiting this place with. People she knew nothing of beyond their names.

The house was still quiet as far as Amy could tell. She could hear the faint ticking of a pendulum clock somewhere in another room and distant shouts of men from the yard. A horse whinnied as Amy swung her legs out of bed, another answering its call as she stood up and went to drag her suitcases in from the hall. She stared at them a moment, debating if she was ready to admit defeat by actually unpacking them or if she could continue to live in denial by living out of them for a while longer. The indecision on that front left them untouched for the time being while she found her way back to the kitchen where she'd left her other duffel bag.

As she shuffled down the hall to fetch it, was unaware that a man was lounging in an old leather chair with a newspaper and mug off coffee until her back was already to him.

Jack glanced up from his reading to peer at the young woman over his glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose. "You must be Amy."

His deep voice shook her, making her jump and spin around to find where it had come from. Every nerve in her body stood on end as her spine went rigid and her eyes widened while her breath seized in her lungs.

Pulling off his glasses, Jack folded the paper over and sat it on the arm of his chair as he stood. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

Swallowing, Amy took a moment to calm her racing heart. "No, I… I just didn't realize anyone was in here." She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax. "You're Jack?"

Jack nodded. "That would be me." He began to approach and Amy felt herself start to tense again, her eyes dropping down to his hand as it began to extend to offer a proper welcome.

Amy backed away from it, turning to retrieve her duffel, leaving Jack hanging. "I just… came for my bag." She carried it with both hands, both of them ignoring her odd behavior as Jack lowered his hand as if he never held it out in the first place.

Amy had every intention of dragging the bag back to her room and shutting herself away again, but Jack seemed to sense it and positioned himself in the doorway that made her pause. "Safe journey?" He asked, studying her carefully.

"It was fine, thank you. I'm just tired from it." She tried to be polite, but she really just wanted to get away from the inevitable prying questions that would come the more they became acquainted. Obviously, Jack was aware of what he needed to be, but there was a great deal that Amy preferred to keep private for her own sanity.

"I hope my grandson didn't put you off too much. I intended to come myself, but got a little caught up here." Jack apologized for Ty, Amy figuring he either got an earful about their strained journey or knew his grandson well enough to know he wasn't the most personable.

"It's fine," Amy said with a slight shake of her head. "At least he managed to show up eventually," she finished, subtly digging at Ty's tardiness that left her feeling unwelcome from the very moment she stepped off the bus.

Amy shifted her bag in her hands when it started to become heavy from the time she was left to hold it, hoping Jack would take a hint and step aside. If he did, didn't bother to act on it. "If you're hungry I think there's some stuff for sandwiches in the fridge." Jack offered, nodding behind her. He wanted her to stay rather than go and hide away in her bedroom, not wanting her to feel like she was just a burden shifted from one shoulder to another, more capable one. He was curious to know the rest of the story Tim neglected to divulge, feigning ignorance to pawn off his daughter and then get off the phone. But Amy had no interest in even idle chit-chat and her lack of direct eye contact for more than a few seconds told him she in no way trusted him yet. They had a long way to go before those loaded talks could even be toed.

Amy shook her head in response. "I ate on the bus." She was a little hungry, but lately her appetite was delicate. She could be starving but then hours after satisfying her seemingly insatiable hunger she was painfully unloading it all rather ungracefully. She wasn't about to put herself into that delicately compromising position, drawing attention to her not-yet-blatantly-obvious condition. It already felt like people were staring at her, silently judging her and forming their own rumors and tall tales to fill in the gaps of information.

"When my first wife, Lyndy, was pregnant she never stopped eating." Jack smiled, taking himself back to the memory, but the word only made Amy's gaze shoot away from him again. That word made her uncomfortable because it was just so in your face and letting it slip cracked the rumor mills wide open no matter the context. People turned heads upon hearing the word, honing their suddenly supersonic hearing into a conversation that might be none of their business to see what juicy details could be ascertained. A planned and consensual pregnancy wasn't nearly as interesting as one that wasn't and even less so than one that came with a dramatic tangle of paternity. It was why pregnancy plots were so cliché, yet still engaging, in soap operas and supposed reality television shows.

Amy felt like she was living one of those now as Jack continued to tell her about his wife's late-night trips to the fridge and the long midnight drives into town to satisfy one craving or another. The stories were sweet, but all they did were make Amy feel even worse about herself because that was never something she'd have. No one but her loved this child so much that they'd spend hours engaging with her belly or drag themselves twenty miles into town just to make its mother happy because no one but her wanted the child to exist. The baby's father was completely out of the picture and Amy didn't care if she ever saw him again because he didn't give a shit about either one of them.

"If you don't mind, Jack, I'd really like to just go to back to my room," Amy said in a low voice, not even realizing she cut him off because she'd tuned him out when his adoration for his once pregnant wife became too painful for her to continue listening to.

Jack stopped his walk down memory lane and became serious again. "You know it's not going to do you any good spending all of your time locked away. I can understand how you must be feeling scared for a number of different reasons, but the only way you're going to grow to accept this new living arrangement is by actually giving it a chance."

Something in Amy began to sizzle when Jack claimed he could understand how she felt. He had no idea how she felt and how dare he try to pawn off life advice on her when he didn't have a clue. "Maybe I don't want to give it a chance," she snapped before she could stop herself. "I didn't want to come here in the first place."

Despite Amy's anger toward him, Jack remained calm. It wasn't in his nature to fight fire with fire. He learned long ago that it only fueled the rage. "Maybe not. But you're here now, so to me that means you want to at least give your child a chance. That says a lot more about you than you might realize, or care to admit."

The fire in her was dampened as quickly as it had been ignited, knowing Jack was right. She was doing all of this for her child. To try and give him or her more of a life they deserved instead of growing up in a situation that might not be healthy, or even safe for either of them. Amy hadn't known where she would have ended up had she taken the alternate route and despite having no idea what kind of people lived at Heartland, at least she knew she would have some place to go.

"Why did you do it?" Amy had to ask. "You don't know me or my situation. But you still offered to take me in even with all the baggage I'm carrying. Why?" In the beginning, Amy believed it was a completely self-serving reason. Like she was being traded in order for her father to pay off one of his many debts, but she wasn't stupid enough to look around this house and at the old weathered cowboy before her and still believe that to be true.

It didn't take more than a moment for Jack to answer. Like he didn't have to think about it at all. "The same reason you got yourself on that bus."

Amy was quiet for a moment, letting it sink in as she looked up at Jack. She found it hard to wrap her mind around the idea that a total stranger was compassionate enough to want to do some good by her and her unborn child. That they too wanted to provide some kind of good future to them when her own flesh and blood was ready to throw her out on the streets to fend for herself. "But why did my dad call you?" That was another thing Amy didn't understand. To her it was like Tim just opened up the phone book to a random page, closed his eyes, and pointed. Where his finger landed was where she went.

Jack shrugged. It had been a surprise to him as well to receive that phone call from Tim Fleming after not even hearing the name for almost two decades. "We knew each other years back, before you were born. He must have thought I could help."

"How did you know each other?" That seemed strange to her considering she couldn't recall a Jack Bartlett ever being mentioned. Yet, she was beginning to realize her father held more than a few skeletons in his closet he seemed adamant about not sharing with her.

"I think that's something you need to ask him." Jack told her, not feeling it was his place to breach Tim's privacy. He obviously neglected to fill Amy in on their affiliation and while Jack disagreed with that, Tim must have had a reason for it that only he could explain.

Amy saw that response as a dead end and figured she was just going to have to accept being kept in the dark about a lot of her father's decisions. "I doubt he'll tell me. We haven't spoken to each other since he told me I was coming here. I don't think he wants anything to do with me anymore."

Jack frowned. "What makes you say that?"

Amy shook her head. "Isn't it obvious? I'm here. And he sent me here so he didn't have to look at me anymore. I disappointed him and shamed him. When I told him I couldn't… that I wouldn't…" she paused and let out a slow breath, biting down on her cheek to fight off the prickle that erupted behind her eyes then started again. "When I said I wanted to keep the baby it took him not even an afternoon to find a way to get rid of me."

Jack felt for this girl. He really did. He didn't quite understand how her father could do what he did either, which was another part of the reason why he agreed to let her stay at the ranch. But he just couldn't have her thinking her father no longer loved his daughter or hated her because she made a mistake and instead of taking the easy way out, she decided to live with the consequences. "I'm sure there's more to it than that. You shouldn't jump to conclusions before knowing the whole story. I bet you feel the same way." His eyes lowered to look at her belly, to which Amy shifted her bag to block it. She hated when people stared at her like that. It made her feel violated and like some kind of a sideshow.

"Maybe if you knew the whole story, you'd think differently, too." She shot back, finally hoisting up her bag and using it to push Jack out of the way so she could slip by and once again lock herself in her room where she did not come out again until she saw the transport van to the prison load up and disappear for the night. She was starving by then, but remained stubborn even through the haunting aroma that began to waft in from the kitchen. By then she couldn't stand it anymore and was about to venture out to make an appearance when there was a knock on her door.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I answered some of your questions in the reviews.


	6. Chapter 6

"Amy?" It was Ty. She stood back away from the door, staring at it, waiting to see what it was he wanted. When she didn't respond he knocked again, bowing his head toward the door. "Amy, there's dinner out here if you're hungry." Again, Amy remained silent for a moment before deciding to just admit defeat and open the door. She couldn't go much longer without having something in her stomach as the rumbles started to become audible and the hollow feeling uncomfortable.  
But as she reached for the handle Ty's voice came through once more, obviously annoyed at her continuous lack of response. "You're going to starve if you stay in there much longer."

Amy froze, retracting her hand as she scowled at him through the door and took a step back out of stubbornness. If he was going to be like that then forget it. She'd wait until everyone was in bed. From what Ty told her of their early to bed, early to rise lifestyle that wouldn't be much longer anyway.

There were other footsteps approaching and Jack's voice was next to carry though. "I wouldn't come out either if spoken to like that. Why don't you go feed the horses, dinner will keep until then." He dismissed his grandson but not before Amy heard him say, "She's acting like a damn child. No wonder her father didn't want to deal with it."

White hot anger surged through her as hurt tears erupted from her eyes. In a fit of rage, Amy grabbed the first thing she got her hands on and threw it with every bit of force she could muster at the door – at Ty. The book slammed against the wood with a loud bang that sent Lobo barking from out on the porch.

Both men looked startled at the door, then Ty frowned at his grandfather. "See what I mean? Now she's throwing a tantrum."

Jack grabbed his shoulder and turned him away. "From what I see, you're not behaving much better. Now go."

Ty threw a reproachful glance toward the door. "Nice. Throw me out to give her the run of the place."

"Ty." Jack warned, giving him a testing look. He was beginning to skate on thinner and thinner ice the longer he lingered and was doing absolutely nothing to help Amy come out of the room in which she'd barricaded herself.

"Whatever." Ty grumbled and left to go feed the horses, making Jack cringe at the word. He hated that stupid phrase, but let it go for the time being to focus on coaxing the young girl out from behind the door.

Jack waited until he was sure Ty left the house before stepping up to take his place near the wood. "Look, I won't begin to make excuses for Ty, but he's trying to adjust same as the rest of us. But like I told him earlier, there's got to be some give and take from all sides to make this work. I know it's hard now, but I'm betting you want to find your place here along with the rest of us, even if it's just to make things seem more familiar to get by. I understand it's only our first day but if we can make tomorrow just a little bit better than today things might not seem so unbearable after a while." Jack spoke quietly to Amy who had slumped down onto the edge of the bed, shaking with an effort to calm down and dry up the hot tears that cascaded down her heated cheeks. She was flushed and didn't need to glance up at the mirror on the wardrobe to know her face was a deep shade of pink.

But she was listening to the older man on the other side of the door. Already she could tell she was going to resent him a great deal for the amount of times he was right. It was annoying already, but also got Amy to think through the bitterness that clouded her judgment. One of the biggest issues she raised about coming to Heartland was the fact that she knew nothing of the place or the people that lived there. It was overwhelming and intimidating, but by keeping herself isolated from those opportunities to become acquainted with the people and the land, she was never going to find that familiarity. If she didn't want to feel like such an outsider, or a charity case, she was going to have to put forth the effort to learn what the ranch was all about. It was going to be hard and probably strange at first, but if she wanted to feel that comfort of home, it was what she was going to have to do.

Jack said nothing else while he waited by the door for Amy to make up her mind. If she ultimately decided not to leave her room then he'd be courteous just that once and bring her a tray of food so she didn't starve herself. He was giving her a couple days of a grace period to settle in and put her mind in the right place to make the most of this situation, but after that he wasn't going to be so accommodating and passive.

Staring down at her hands in her lap, Amy closed her eyes and took a deep breath to clear her mind and regain control of herself. What Ty said wasn't at all okay and she wouldn't soon forgive him for it, but she was hungry, her child needed the nourishment, and she really hated that she gave them a reason to think poorly of her already. Maybe she didn't see keeping to herself all day as childish, but throwing her book at the door had been and she slid from the bed to pick it up and return it to the nightstand before going to open the door.  
Jack looked up when he heard the knob turn, taking a step back to allow Amy the space to come out. She looked up at him briefly with red-rimmed eyes, a giveaway she'd been crying. He gave her a gentle smile. "See? Just a step at a time." He nodded, Amy's lip twitching in a small attempt at a smile that died almost instantly as she followed Jack out into the kitchen where a pot of stew was keeping warm on the stove.

"Help yourself. There's bowls above the toaster there." Jack gestured before stepping into his boots by the door.

Amy shifted down the counter to open the cabinet and pull down a green ceramic bowl, glancing over her shoulder at Jack as she shut the cabinet. "You're not having any?" She'd feel a little ashamed if her little bratty act had driven them both out of their own home.

"Oh, I'll be back. I just want to give Ty a hand with the horses. Eat up. There's plenty." And once again she was left alone.

It was strange, how she so desperately wanted to isolate herself yet hated feeling so alone. But as Amy ladled some stew into her bowl and slid into an empty chair at the table, realized her loneliness didn't stem from simply being in an unfamiliar place with people she didn't know, but rather the feeling that she wasn't wanted – by anyone. Not her father or sister, the only family she had left. There was no one she could turn to except these strangers that took her in and it was going to be difficult for her for a while to really believe they, or at least Jack, truly did care.

* * *

Scooping a ration of sweet feed into an empty bucket, Ty walked it over to the corresponding horse's stall to hook up for him to eat. "There you go, Jay. Maybe try not to throw the bucket this-" Ty stopped as the gelding immediately stuck his face into the bucket and swung it right off the hook to dump onto the ground. He chased after it, lipping up a mouthful of grain before nudging the bucket again to toss aside. "Okay, a ground feeder it is then." Ty sighed and shook his head, going in to just dump the remaining grain out for Jay to forage as he seemed to prefer. He took the bucket back to the grain bins to set aside as he went to fill the next one, trying to be quick before the impatient wall kicks became more excessive.

He stepped out of the feed area, almost running right into his grandfather. One look had Ty huffing and brushing by him, knowing he was about to get some kind of a lecture. "You don't even need to say it Granddad."

Jack's moustache twitched from side to side as he watched Ty with a disapproving expression. "Say what?"

Ty shrugged as he came back for the last bucket of grain. "Whatever it is you came out here to say about how I acted toward the girl."

"You mean Amy?" It was no wonder she barricaded herself in the bedroom. Jack was starting to feel like he was the only person who was willing to treat her like the human being she was and not some kind of inconvenience.

Ty slid his grandfather a sideways glance. "Yeah." He could see a frown that nearly matched Amy's from earlier at the depot when he failed to learn her name before picking her up on Jack's face.

"So then I guess I don't need to tell you how disappointed I am in you right now for not at all doing what I told you to do." He went over to an open hay bale inside the barn door and started throwing flakes into each of the stalls.

"I did what you told me to do. I picked her up from the depot," Ty argued, dropping the lids of the grain bins closed.

"I told you to give her some ounce of hope that she can survive here and so far I'm wondering if I need to take you to an audiologist to get your hearing checked. Or take myself to a speech therapist to perhaps learn to better enunciate. What the hell is the matter with you, Ty?" Jack launched a flake over the stall so far it landed on the horse's back inside of it.

"Me? If you haven't noticed, she's not exactly embracing your western hospitality. Not to mention you're the one who decided to offer up our house to some random girl without consulting me about it first. What happened to our agreement? I got myself cleaned up and we were supposed to be partners. That was our deal. And so far I see a lot of you making executive decisions all on your own. Not just with Amy, but the ranch, too. Who the hell are you to let Hank back on this ranch after what he did to Caleb? I wanted him gone and now we lost our foreman because of your bleeding heart," Ty spat. If Jack really wanted to start this rumble, Ty was ready to come right back at him.

Jack's jaw twitched as a flash of anger surged through him, but he bit his tongue to some of the more hurtful things he could say and instead tossed hay into the last stall. "That may be so, but without that bleeding heart of mine you'd probably still be behind bars - or dead. I may have agreed to give you more responsibility and authority in this business, but you just remember that this is my ranch until the day they lower me into the ground. And then it's Lisa's, so I reckon you'd better start straightening yourself out again right now before she gets back to do it for you."

Yes, that was a threat and Ty knew it. He had the greatest respect for his step-grandmother. Since moving to the ranch she'd taken a more serious role in the running of things, and that included Ty. She saw how he was when he turned up after his time in jail and made it her personal mission to straighten him out before Jack gave himself another heart attack trying. She played the tough love act well, and Ty would always be grateful for it. He was grateful for his grandfather, too, even if it didn't seem like it in that moment. He just wasn't at all ready to accept this intruder into their lives, into their home.

"What does Lisa think of this arrangement?" They all knew about it, but not until after Jack had already agreed to do it and Lisa had already been in France at the time so it wasn't like it was something she could talk her husband out of if she wanted to.

"She thinks the same as I do. That if we can do something to help Amy turn her life in a positive direction then we should do it. It's what we do here, Ty. It's what we've always done. Horses and criminals aren't the only people in the world who need a little guidance and encouragement." Jack brushed loose hay from his clothes while Ty finished up with the barn and the two stood in the aisle sharing a calculating look.

Ty was the first to speak up. "But horses and criminals are our responsibility. Pregnant women… that's someone else's department."

"She's just a girl, Ty. Who's going to have a baby in some months, yes, but she's learning just as much as we are. I raised a child but it's been over forty years since then. I'm not asking you to become the child's father, or to even involve yourself with it if you don't want to. I just want you to show Amy some compassion and some kindness. Maybe then she'll learn to let her guard down and we'll all get along just fine." It didn't seem like a lot to ask, but Jack knew that was going to be easier said than done from both sides. Amy made it very clear to him she wanted nothing to do with Heartland, but he could see her wariness in the way she remained guarded, shied from close contact, and didn't share too much. She was merely uncertain about whether or not to trust these people she was thrust upon, obviously having been hurt and betrayed a few too many times. Jack understood it, and hoped that he could make Ty understand it too in order to help coax Amy out of her shell, rather than send her recoiling any time Jack made some progress that Ty only succeeded in destroying.

"That would be a lot easier if she reciprocated such courtesies." Ty argued, walking toward the door to flick off the barn lights and turn on the floodlight outside the door.

"Then give her a reason to want to. You're going to have to be the bigger person this time, Ty. Show me you can back down from a fight for once in your life."

"You know that's not how I roll, pops," Ty joked, cocking his head sideways and putting a little inner city in his voice.

"Then show me you're capable of being a gentleman and decent human being. Can you do that?" Jack wasn't in the mood for wise-cracks and maintained his almost patronizing expression.

It made Ty's amused grin falter and fade. "Alright, fine. But I still mean what I said about not becoming her servant boy."

"Dually noted," Jack conceded, his mouth curving into a small half smile. "Now let's eat before it gets cold," he said, slapping a hand on Ty's shoulder as they headed across the yard to the ranch house.

"If she didn't eat it all already. I heard pregnancy turns women into bottomless pits," he mused, causing Jack to heave a sigh and shake his head in amusement.


	7. Chapter 7

With her head resting in her hand that was propped on the table, Amy twirled her spoon around the steaming stew. She already burned her tongue with a little over zealous first bite and was waiting for it to cool some before trying again. What she was really doing, though, was tormenting herself by staring at it and getting occasional whiffs of its enticing smell. Her stomach grumbled loudly from having taken that first bite, anticipating more that was to come.

At least the food didn't seem so bad. She was half expecting a meal of pizza and beer, which wouldn't have been at all different from home. Amy learned to cook to keep away from such unhealthy eating, wanting to keep her father in decent shape despite his poor life choices otherwise. Now there was no one there to add some color to his plate, or take that extra beer from his hand or dump the last half of the whiskey bottle down the sink along with the teener of coke while convincing him that he did in fact use the rest of it up the night before. If only he knew how much money he really lost on buying those 8-balls.

She was still absently playing with her food, submerging chunks of beef so they soaked up every bit of gravy they could when Ty and Jack returned from the barn. Amy sat up abruptly, straightening her posture as they kicked off their boots and Ty walked by to help himself to the pot. He glanced down toward Amy's bowl when he observed it didn't look like she'd eaten any of it yet.  
"Hope you're not a vegetarian." He was joking, trying to lighten the mood, but from their last bad encounter Amy didn't take it that way and shot him an unpleasant look before scooping out a piece of beef and making a show of eating it without saying a word otherwise. "Good, because that won't get you far around here."

She didn't think it would, but what she ate was the least of her problems. Sitting around the tiny kitchen table with her hosts proved to be both awkward and uncomfortable. They didn't speak for a long time. The only sounds were the clink of spoons against bowls and the occasional slurp of gravy. Amy actually thought she might be able to eat then excuse herself to sneak back to her quarters for the night without falling into more unwanted conversation, but Jack wasn't willing to let her off so easily.

"So I figure tomorrow we can go to town and you can meet the obstetrician that'll be caring for you while you're here. I mentioned you were coming and she's eager to meet you. Then we can grab a few things to maybe help you feel more at home." Jack was trying to be encouraging and Amy appreciated his real dedication to the whole situation, but that didn't make her feel any less like she'd lost all of her free will.

"I don't at least get a say in the doctor I see?" She argued merely for the sake of wanting to exercise as much control over her situation as possible when it felt as if she no longer had any at all.

"Dr. Virani is the only one in the area. Unless you want to make the hour drive into Calgary every time, she's the only option. And seeing as you don't have a car-" Ty spoke up as if to let her know she was not going to turn into an inconvenience, or at least any more of one than she already was. They were already making enough accommodations for her.

"Ty." Jack cut him off, shooting him a look of warning to remember their former conversation, before he could ignite another argument then took over again, ignoring the dark look Amy shot across the table. "It's just a consultation. If you don't like her then we'll find someone else." Jack told her. "Contrary to what you may be thinking, you do have choices here, Amy."

_Doesn't feel like it_. Amy thought, as she just nodded, agreeing to humor Jack and go meet this doctor. She needed to find one anyway if this arrangement turned out to be as permanent as it seemed and if Jack already went ahead and did the honors then at least that was one thing she didn't have to worry about as long as she approved of this Dr Virani. It didn't sound as if her options were vast, but she wanted a doctor she was comfortable with for several reasons. This was all new and frightening to her outside of the whole being away from home part. She was used to taking care of her father as if he were the child, but a baby was completely different.

"Fine," she answered, having no choice in the matter anyway and went back to eating.

When she emptied her bowl, she stood from the chair to place it in the sink then turned to head back to her bedroom. She could feel Ty's scowl follow her as she did. "Hold on there," Jack spoke up, causing Amy to stop in her tracks before she could even get around the table. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I was just going to get to bed. It's been a pretty…" _Stressful._ "long day."

"Not before those dishes are done." Jack gestured to the sink while Ty ducked his head to hide his smug smile.

"Huh?" For a moment Amy was dumbfounded. Was she the maid now? Is that what Jack meant when he said to "find her place?"

"This is a working ranch, we all do our part. Now that you're a part of this ranch, that means you too."

Amy frowned. "But I didn't-" she started to protest, but Jack held his hand to stop her.

"I know you didn't want to come here, but you _are_ here now and it won't do any of us any favors if you sit around and mope the whole time. So, you'll have your responsibilities like the rest of us. The dishes being the first." Wiping his mouth with his napkin, Jack stood to take his bowl to the sink, setting it next to Amy's. A moment later, Ty did the same.

"There's gloves underneath if you don't want to ruin your manicure," he commented before he could help himself. Amy bit her tongue. Ty's assumptions of her were starting to get on her nerves, but it seemed his grandfather didn't tolerate his mocking either.

"You can help. I'm going to bed." Jack pointed to the sink, causing Ty's mouth to fall open and Amy to fight her satisfied grin as she dropped it toward the floor. _Ha._

Ty shot Amy an accusing look as if it was her fault he'd been punished to dish duty along with her, but she just rolled her eyes and started to make space in the sink. "You can dry," she told him.

"Fine." He picked up the dish towel as Amy lathered up a sponge and started on the small pile, checking everything before rinsing it and handing it off to Ty for him to towel dry.

They worked in silence, each focusing on their assigned task and pretending the other wasn't really there. But after a while Ty glanced toward Amy. "You actually know how to clean dishes. I'm impressed." It was supposed to be a kind comment, but the way it was said once again made Amy frown and toss the sponge into the stew pot.

"Okay, what the hell is with the condescending comments? You act like I'm some prissy little city girl." That was the last straw.

Ty's hand dropped to his side that had been awaiting another dish. "Maybe if you didn't act like it, I wouldn't think that way. But you've turned your nose up at this place since before you even got here. You think I'm insulting you? You're insulting our entire livelihood before even learning anything about it. And it's what is going to keep you living comfortably here for as long as that is. Not very smart to bite the hand that feeds you," Ty snapped.

Though Amy was scowling and building up a defensive retort, she knew he was right in part. She hadn't really wanted to bother giving the place a chance because she so badly didn't want to be there that she believed it was going to be a miserable existence. There was part of her that still thought that way and probably would for a while, but Ty was right that it was their livelihood and how they made a living and it was because of this place that she had somewhere to go at all when her father no longer wanted her. So, she bit back the harsher of words she was ready to spit out. "I had no idea where I was going or what it was going to be like. I didn't know what kind of people you were or how you'd react to having me - which I can see isn't so well for _some_. But I am doing what I have to do just to get through this. You don't have any idea what I've been through, okay?"

Ty stared at her but shut his mouth. Fair enough. Jack told him to show some compassion, to look at the situation from Amy's point of view. That was kind of hard to do from her constant sarcasm and obvious disdain for pretty much everything. He could understand now how it was all a front - a defense mechanism to help her cope with the sudden dramatic changes taking place in her life at a time when she was already forced to face some serious life changes.

Looking at her Ty found it easier to believe it was all just one giant inconvenience that was getting in the way of her selfish lifestyle because that was exactly how she acted. She just informed him of the contrary and while he found it made sense, she was either a very good actor or liar. "Enlighten me, then. Your dad was pretty vague on the details of what happened. Aside from," he gestured toward her abdomen, "you know." It was strange to know she was pregnant but saw no physical evidence of it. They really weren't used to having women of any kind on the ranch and that much was painfully obvious.

Amy turned back to the sink, satisfied that she got Ty to back off but now kicking herself for opening up a conversation she really didn't want to get into. "I'd rather not talk about it." She focused on scrubbing the pot.

"Why? Is it really that bad? Or just embarrassing?" The fact that it seemed to be so hush-hush is what made Ty even more curious to find out what the deal was with Amy and what happened that brought her there.

"It's really not any of your business," she told him truthfully. It wasn't. It also wasn't something she wanted to share with people she didn't know. Or with anyone she did know, for that matter.

"Okay, well, it just seems odd that you're here and you said that the father of your child doesn't know you're here. Does he even know you're pregnant? Or are you trying to hide it from him for some reason?" Ty pried, perhaps a little too much because the next moment Amy was reeling on him.

"I said it was none of your business! So just leave it alone, okay?!" She shouted, throwing the sponge into the pot and leaving Ty to finish what was left. She was done. He had no right to try to pry into her life and start asking such personal questions.

Ty turned and watched her leave, a little taken aback by her reaction. "I was just asking," he grumbled in his own defense. Turning to take over Amy's place at the sink, Ty thought about it for a little and figured that he probably got closer to the answers than he realized for Amy to get so upset, which only made him want to know them even more.


	8. Chapter 8

Nights came early at Heartland, but mornings even more so. Before the sky even began to lighten as the sun rose over the Rockies, Jack was stirring in his room off the living room. He dressed in his usual jeans and plaid shirt then headed to the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee. It wasn't long after the first drip that Ty was too rising and getting ready for the day. Amy listened to it all in the dark of her room. She had been unable to sleep. Tossing and turning all night long as the silence rang in her ears and left her uneasy. She was a girl from a big city that never slept. Never was it so still in the night. It was just another painful reminder of how far she was from home and how long it would be until she could go back – if she ever could. Amy tried not to think that way, determined to hold onto some small ounce of hope that her father would have a change of heart or an opportunity would come along she could take back to her beloved homeland. But until then she was stuck and if she didn't want to suffer every moment of every day she was there then she needed to make some changes. They wouldn't happen overnight and she was sure there would be times she'd fight it and have to bite her tongue, but it was just something she was going to have to endure.

Heaving a sigh, Amy glanced at the clock and cringed at the early hour. But she wasn't sleeping anyway despite how tired she still was so there was no point in lying there staring into space. She pushed the blanket aside and climbed out of bed to venture out and partake in whatever morning routine these cowboys had.

Upon entering the kitchen, the strong odor of coffee hit her like a punch in the gut. She froze and sucked in a breath as her stomach rejected the smell and turned over. Both Jack and Ty looked up surprised to see their guest standing there, but even more so to see her so pale. Jack opened his mouth to say good morning when Amy turned and darted for the bathroom. Falling to her knees, she retched into the toilet bowl. Her stomach painfully convulsed as she threw up everything she'd eaten the night before until there was nothing left but dry heaves.

Both men cringed at the sound of Amy getting sick as they stood looking through the doorway she'd disappeared from. Ty, who had a piece of jellied toast on the way to his mouth, glanced down at it and then set it aside, his appetite lost. "What was that about?"

"Just one of the wonderful woes of pregnancy," Jack told him, remembering how sick Lyndy had been for almost two-thirds of hers. He turned around to flick off the coffee maker then poured his mug into a thermos. "See if she's alright. I'll get started on feeding."

Ty's face fell. "Me? But I don't know anything about this kind of stuff." Jack was the one who'd been through it all before – twice. At least he knew what was going on and how to help while Ty's only experience with pregnancy was through cows and horses.

Stepping into his boots, Jack shrugged. "Well, now's your chance to learn." Grabbing his thermos he stepped out into the cool morning leaving Ty to gape after him.

Closing her watery eyes, Amy dropped her forehead on her arm that hugged the seat while the other reached for the flusher. That certainly wasn't the positive start she'd been hoping for. It got even worse when she heard Ty's footsteps approaching the open door. She shifted to lean up when he appeared, trying to hold onto what little was left of her dignity. Sniffing, she cleared her throat that was sore and tasted of bile, directing her eyes into the clean toilet water rather than at Ty who was just as awkwardly trying not to look at her. "Uh, are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Amy shook her head. "No. I'm fine." She kept her answer simple, then waited for Ty to leave as his shifting weight told her he wanted to. But he lingered in the doorway, torn between wanting to adhere to that dismissal and call Amy out on her obvious lie. Her eyes slid sideways to look at him. "You don't have to check on me. I'm a big girl," she told him in clearer terms for him to understand. She hated gawkers and even worse that she was something to gawk at.

Ty didn't tell her that it wasn't his choice to check on her, but instead just stepped back. "Okay, well, there's coffee out there if-" He winced at Amy's reaction to the word, looking at if she was trying to keep from throwing up again. "-sorry."

"You can go now," she told him in a harsher tone while trying to maintain control of her gag reflex. The stench of freshly brewed coffee was still wafting about the house and occasionally Amy got an unsettling whiff of it that kept her from attempting to get up off the floor and carry on with her morning. Ty walked away abruptly after that, actually feeling a little bad for her and whatever other unpleasant obstacles came from being pregnant. He knew of things like morning sickness and fatigue and increased appetite – things he learned from his high school health classes, but other than that he was as unknowledgeable as Amy was about ranch life.

As soon as Ty left, Amy's body fell sideways against the bathtub. She pulled her legs to her chest and tucked her arms between them as she dropped her cheek on her knee while she waited for the nausea to subside or the coffee smell to dissipate – whichever came first. She ended up falling asleep in that position, jolting herself awake out of a dream. Her small nap left her body heavy and even more exhausted than when she woke up and her neck was sore from the odd angle it had been in. Gingerly, she lifted her head and rubbed the back of her neck, giving it a satisfying crack before she finished stretching out her limbs and pulling herself to her feet.

It was lighter in the house now as morning truly arrived and the sun bathed the farm in a golden glow. The house was quiet as Amy shuffled back to the kitchen and foraged for something to eat that would be easy on her stomach. There wasn't much to choose from so dry toast and a banana was what it was. She was able to eat her breakfast in peace and when she stood up, glanced out the window into the ranch yard. The transport van had yet to arrive so if she wanted to explore without getting caught in the bustle now was her chance. As much as she would like to continue holing up in her bedroom, it was close quarters and too beautiful of a day to spend it moping inside. Even she would admit that. Either way, Jack never did say when they were supposed to meet the doctor in town so she would need to be dressed and ready at some point anyway.

The phone rang as she was on her way to toss the banana peel into the trash, a shrill sound in the quiet of the house that made her jump to look at it. It rang again, Amy debating on whether she should answer it as she peeked outside to see if anyone was on their way to get it. A place like this seemed like the sort to have the ringer connected to chimes outside of the house and barn. But as it rang a third time, didn't seem likely. Or maybe no one was around to hear it. It really wasn't her business who was calling or if it was missed. They could call back later. But it was the smallest sliver of hope that her father was on the other end of that line that had Amy reaching for it. "Hello?"  
"_I'm sorry… I must have the wrong number."_ Came a young female voice just before a click as she hung up.  
Amy pulled the phone away from her ear and shrugged as she hung up too. Well, that hadn't been the call she was looking for but at least it was easy enough to screen.

About to walk back to her room to change, Amy was stopped when the phone began to ring again. Sighing, she went back to pick it up. "Hello?"  
"_Oh no, did I dial the wrong number again? Drat"  
_"Who is it you're looking for?" Amy asked, starting to understand the caller's confusion since it probably wasn't ever a woman to answer.  
"_Ty Borden."  
_"No, you have the right number. He's not available right now, though. Do you want me to give him a message?"  
"_Oh, is this Lisa? I'm so sorry. Ty said you were away and I just assumed-"  
"_No, this is Amy."  
There was a pause. "Amy?"  
Amy hesitated, biting her lip and unsure how to explain who she was. She didn't know who all knew about her and didn't want to be the one to break such surprising, and confusing, news to people if it could be the start of issues. She knew how that kind of miscommunication worked. "I'm…um… a friend of Jack's. I'm staying at the ranch for a while." She didn't think that sounded too strange but the pause on the other end started to make her wonder until she received a response.  
"_Okay, well, can you just tell Ty that Kit called? I'll try him again later."  
_"Sure." What kind of name was 'Kit?'  
"_Thanks._" 

Finally hanging up, Amy raised her brow at the receiver as she put it back on the base. So, it seemed Ty had friends after all, girl friends even. Who knew.

* * *

"There you are," Jack called from the back of a brown and white horse Amy would eventually know as Paint, as she ventured out into the stable yard after changing into a pair of shorts and tank top, flip-flops slapping at her heels. Lobo tagged along behind her, thoroughly intrigued by their guest, but Amy figured it was because she was probably the only person to show him any true affection. "I was just about to come in and check on you. Feeling better?" He pulled the horse up alongside of Amy who took a careful step away for fear of being stepped on.

"Yeah. I had some toast and that seemed to help," Amy nodded, squinting up at the old cowboy.  
"Good. Good. Glad to see you out of that room, too. Would have seemed like such a waste of a day to be inside today." Slowly, Jack stood and eased his leg over the side of his mount to step down, groaning quietly as he did so. It was obvious his age and years of hard work were beginning to catch up to him. "Come on, I'll give you the tour." He tied Paint to the hitching rail outside the barn before going inside, the overpowering smell of manure hitting Amy almost as hard as the coffee. It was a stench she never before experienced and would be happy never to have to again.

"Don't worry about the smell," Jack said when he saw how her hand flew to her nose. "After a while you won't even notice it."  
"Mm, I doubt that," Amy grumbled from behind her hand. One of the things she noticed since getting pregnant was how amplified and precise her sense of smell became. The subtlest of scents became so potent they were sometimes intolerable.

She followed behind Jack into the modest little barn. For being such a large ranch she was surprised to see there were only four stalls. "Where do the rest of the horses go?" She asked, keeping her distance from a curious little chestnut that came to check them out.

Jack went right up to rub the star on the animal's face, not at all phased when she lipped at his shirt. "Depends. Some are out in a herd that have the run of the ranch, others we keep in the corrals you see around the back. We use the stalls for new arrivals and any that need to recover from injury. Like this gal here."

"What happened to her?" Amy was always a sympathetic animal lover. All of those commercials for humane societies asking to donate broke her heart. Seeing animals in pain was just intolerable and even if she had no expertise in veterinary medicine, she always felt a need to help.

"Got a little banged up when we introduced her into one of the larger herds. Bottom of the pecking order, y'know? She tried to get away from one of the other horses and got tangled in some barbed wire." Urging the horse back, Jack opened the stall door. "See?"

Amy kept her distance, but ducked around to see the deep healing gashes in the mare's legs. "Poor girl. That must have been scary, huh?"

"You can touch her. She won't bite." He smiled, amused by Amy's intentional distance, even more so by the sudden look of uncertainty that crossed her face as she looked from the horse to Jack and back again.

It was usually every little girl's dream growing up to have a pony. It seemed that even if they grew out of it, it was always a phase at some point in their lives. It had been for Amy, too, long ago when she used to see the mounted police patrolling the city streets and marching in parades. Now she was living on a ranch full of the animal but felt not even a sliver of excitement. She'd long since grown out of her pony-loving childhood.

"Uh, maybe later. I'm still not sure about the whole… horse thing. Yet. One step at a time. Like you said."  
"No scared, are ya?" Jack teased, making Amy frown, affronted.  
"No."

The cowboy didn't look convinced but knew better than to pressure her, so he just moved right along. "Alright." Stepping away from the horse, he led Amy through the tack area to an adjacent room. "This is the office. If you need to use the computer for something it's the only place on the ranch you can get internet. Dial-up. There's wireless in places in town but out here there's no such thing as high-speed."

"I don't doubt it."Amy chuckled as she looked around the very cluttered space. Papers and books on everything from equine nutrition to training and massage therapy stacked the desk and bookshelves. Photos, flyers, and newspaper clippings hung on just about every inch of the wall along with a very outdated calendar. Odd plants hung in the window and pots lined a work space in the corner along with various vials and jars of what looked like spices and herbs. Amy gave them a strange look, wondering if they were into some kind of sorcery as well.

Jack saw her eyes linger on the herbs and went to pick up a bottle of lavender oil. "My daughter was really into treating horses with herbal therapies. She always said that horses experience the same emotions as humans. What works for us can work for them too."

It was an intriguing philosophy and probably true, but Amy still couldn't help to look skeptically at what looked like a spice rack. "Was she some kind of hippy? Flower power." Amy smiled, amused by her own joke, but when she looked at Jack to see if he got it and laughed too, the smile was wiped instantly off of her face. Tension suddenly filled the room as his face hardened into an unamused expression. "I'm sorry. It was just a joke," Amy immediately apologized, not knowing why except she felt she needed to when Jack didn't seem to appreciate her humor.

"It wasn't a joke to her. Nothing about this place is a joke, Miss Fleming. It's a serious business. Lily dedicated her life to saving these animals any way she could. It was the only thing that kept her together when her world was falling apart. You best learn to respect that." Jack wasn't messing around and Amy actually felt herself become ashamed as he stood there and reprimanded her for making fun of their methods there at Heartland. She really hadn't meant it maliciously. It was just something she never heard of before.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Amy apologized again, lapsing them both into an uncomfortable silence. "Where is she?" It seemed odd that Jack mentioned having a daughter when Ty said aside from his step-grandmother, Lisa, there weren't any women around the ranch. But as soon as she asked Amy knew it was a question she'd regret receiving the answer.

"Dead," Jack replied simply.

Amy swallowed, shifting her weight uncomfortably. She should have stayed inside. "Oh. I'm sorry." There she was apologizing a third time in a span of two minutes. That had to be some kind of record.

Jack merely shrugged. "You didn't know. Been a while now anyway." Taking off his hat, he brushed his grey hair back then replaced it. "Come on, not much time before the guys get here." He headed back out through the barn to the yard to finish the tour.

Amy hesitated a moment before tagging along, once again feeling like a small child put in their place. It seemed she wasn't the only one with a bit of a tragic past.


	9. Chapter 9

What Amy was able to see of Heartland on her little walking tour was only a mere fraction of what was out there. The rest of the 600 acres, Jack told her, was best explored on horseback, which was a portion Amy didn't think she'd ever be seeing. She'd never been on a horse and didn't plan to attempt it now. While the majority of that stemmed from apprehension of the animal in general, her more public excuse was out of concern for her unborn child. Even Jack agreed that a fall from the back of a horse could cause possible complications that weren't worth the risk. Especially for someone who didn't know what they were doing around the animal. So, for now, Amy was safe in that regard and had no plans to stick around long enough to be fit to stick her foot in the stirrup.

What she wasn't safe from, however, was the sudden shrill whistles and cat calls that carried across the yard as soon as she and Jack returned from their walk around the pond behind the barn. The inmates had arrived and had not failed to catch the blonde beauty that seemed to materialize out of thin air. They were all there, unloaded from the van and standing in a huddle to await their morning briefing. It was Jack they were waiting for, so upon his arrival all eyes were on him but they were just as quick to turn to her.

"Well, lookie what we have here boys, you seeing what I'm seeing?" one of them asked.  
"Shoot, Jim, that looks like a P.Y.T. to me," another answered, slapping his leather gloves against his thigh. Women were very obviously a rare, and thus welcome, sight for the men. The most they got to see were their fantasies manifested from whatever photos and pin-ups they had taped to their cell walls. The real thing, well, that was a treat indeed.

"Well, shit, Jack, it's about time you rewarded us for good behavior!" chimed a third, the comment leaving an unsettling feeling in Amy's gut as a chuckle rippled through the crowd.  
"Relax, fellas, this is Amy and she's not here for any of you." Jack answered them as he and Amy joined the group. Every nerve in her body ignited with the intense desire to run, to get out of the immediate reach of these men and their lingering gazes. Even the closeness of Jack, whom she saw as her only protection, didn't calm her any. They were all staring at her, looking her up and down, no doubt checking her out. None of them were trying to hide it. She felt like a doe being surrounded by a pack of wolves.

"Aw now, come on old man, no need to hog all the young'ins to yourself." The first man chuckled, nudging his comrade beside him who added, "Is this your way of filling those lonely nights while your woman frolics on the other side of the world with her French-fried friends?" It was meant to be a joke, but Amy couldn't help feeling insulted from the way they made her out to sound like some kind of concubine. She frowned indignantly. If she wasn't being treated like a spoiled brat, it was a trophy piece, neither of which were true but she almost preferred them to the truth.

Jack didn't appreciate that comment either. He was easy to humor them and play along most of the time, but when lines were drawn they dared not be crossed. This one had been and he was quick to push the defenders back on the appropriate side of it. "She's here merely as a guest so I expect you to treat her with some respect, you got me?"

"We'll treat her with the respect she earns, just like the rest of'em," came a less welcoming voice, a voice that almost chilled Amy to the bone when her eyes located the source. He held a dark expression in his gray gaze with a deep scowl that seemed to be permanently etched into his forehead.

"Shut your hole, Hank. You'll scare the poor girl." Jim stepped up, causing Amy to lean away from him when he passed an invisible comfort barrier she subconsciously set up. "Don't mind him, he likes to be intimidating but truthfully he's just a perpetually cranky old coot." Jim called, turning to look at the other man who spit in the dirt in reply.

"I don't know about the rest of you lot, but with the missus gone these few weeks it was getting mighty ugly around here. It's nice to have a pretty face around again," Jim winked at her with a soft smile, receiving an echo of agreement and nods. It wasn't hard to figure out that in the hierarchy of things, while Jack seemed to be the boss, Jim was just a step or so below him in terms of respectability. Though, the question could then be arisen what was respectable about any of these men who were convicted of crimes bad enough to land them years in prison. It made Amy wonder just what exactly they did. Ty said a lot of them were into drugs, business or pleasure, and not all of them were murderers and rapists, which had to mean some of them were. Already her unease toward Hank led her to think that he was one of them.

"Speaking of - Jack!" The man who earlier teased about Amy being a reward for good behavior spoke up. "When is that wife of yours coming back?"  
"What, you miss getting tongue-lashed, Ray?" quipped one of the other earlier commenters.  
"From that sassy blue-eyed belle? Absolutely."  
"Alright, alright, enough lolly-gagging, there's a lot of work to be done and we're burning daylight. Where's Ty with that schedule? Ty!" Jack strode toward the barn entrance, his grandson appearing with a clipboard in hand before he got a tongue-lashing of his own for not being ready.  
"Aw, come on, Jack. We were just goofing. Live a little." Ray defended himself, though didn't press his luck. He knew thin ice when he skated on it and just how long it would be before it cracked completely.

"I've still got plenty of living left to do… after the work is done, so let's get to it." He reached out for the clipboard that he and Ty put together the day before to divvy up the work load.

Amy didn't even realize Ty was around, not having seen him since their brief encounter in the bathroom. She toured the whole ranch yard and didn't catch even a glimpse of him. Not that she cared, but the message his friend Kit asked her to deliver still lingered in her mind. She glanced at him as Jack started doing roll call, making sure everyone who was supposed to be there was present and then giving them their days duties. Apparently it was the time of year to prepare the new calves for branding and inoculations which were what a majority of the men who could ride would be doing – rounding up the herd and locating strays to get them ready for the big day. Until then Amy wasn't even aware Heartland had cattle in addition to horses, but as Jack pointed out, there was a whole lot of ranch she had yet to see and a lot to learn.

"A pleasure to meet you, Amy," Jim was next to her again after receiving his assignment, talking closely into her ear on his way to the paddock to get his horse. A shiver crawled through her spine and if he'd have lingered any longer she'd have taken several steps away. But the moment was fleeting, leaving her momentarily shaken as the rest of the men moved along to their duties, leaving the transport officer to climb back into the van and Jack and Ty lingering behind a moment to brief each other on the day's proceedings. Amy was just as quickly left forgotten until Jack mentioned taking her into town, which would leave Ty to head the round up until they got back.

"Alright, I'll grab Harley and start heading up with them."

Seeing no reason to linger since she had no role to play or duty of her own to perform in this so called round up, Amy decided to relay her message then head back toward the house to maybe unpack or find something productive to do until she needed to go with Jack – perhaps attempt a phone call to her father since he neglected to bother calling to ensure she arrived safely. Perhaps he needed a reminder of parental etiquette. "Oh, Ty, before you head off. Kit called for you earlier."

Her quick escape was thwarted when Ty's head jerked up from the clipboard he was referencing, stopping the conversation with his grandfather mid-sentence to address Amy's comment. "When?" His tone came off as almost too severe for the question.  
Amy merely shrugged. She'd lost track of the time after leaving the house. "I don't know, a while ago." What did it matter?  
"What did she want? Did she say?" He pressed.  
"No. She said she'd try again later when I told her you weren't available."  
"How did she sound? What'd you tell her?"  
Amy frowned, becoming irritated by his incessant questions. "I don't know, Ty. All I said was you weren't available and she said she'd try again later. That's it. Do you want me to write it down for you?" God, how hard was that to comprehend.  
"That's it? She didn't sound angry?"  
"No. Confused at first. She thought I was Lisa, but I-"  
"What did you say to her?" Ty sounded like he was ready to pounce on her, accuse her of saying things she shouldn't have, but Amy knew better.  
"I told her I was a friend staying at the ranch and I don't appreciate the tone. I thought I was doing you a favor since no one else was around to answer the call. If it's that big of a deal, call her back and ask her your questions yourself." What was it with guys and their inability to face off with a girl who might be angry with them. It only made things worse when they learned of their cowardice. Amy had no idea how things were with Kit and Ty and she frankly didn't care, but obviously Ty did.

"Next time do me the favor of not answering the phone. This isn't your house," Ty snapped, his hand gripping tightly onto the clipboard as he snatched it back from holding it between himself and his grandfather.

Amy's blood boiled just as hotly. "I thought the whole point was to treat it like home. Forgive me for actually trying. Next time I'll be sure to tell her the whole truth, rather than the watered down version to save you from having to lie," she shot back. She didn't know who Kit was, if she was Ty's girlfriend, just a friend, or something in between, but from the way Ty reacted she'd guess either option one or three.

"That's enough, you two." Jack finally took his cue to step in before the argument escalated into anything worse. "How is it that neither of you can seem to speak to each other without it turning into a shouting match?"  
"If she didn't poke her nose in where it didn't belong-" Ty started, only for Amy to cut him off.  
"If you would stop treating me like some street walker who darkened your doorstep-" she shouted over him. Even Ty was offended by that comment.  
"I never said that of you!" Ty protested. He might have assumed a lot of things about her, but a whore was not one of them. Even he had more common decency than that.  
"No, but I'm sure you thought it," Amy snarled in disgust.  
"Now, wait a second there, Amy." Jack piped up in an attempt to cease this new argument that was beginning to spin out of control despite his former efforts to stop it, but Ty was once again talking over him.  
"Maybe the thought crossed my mind, but only because you seem to adamant about keeping secrets – like who the father of your child is. If it were a boyfriend who ran out on you I would think you'd be spreading his name like wildfire to kill his reputation. So maybe it's your reputation you're more concerned with." Ty ventured, his voice calming itself as he carried on with his reasoning, now only because Amy didn't believe he'd dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it had come out of respect. But if she wanted to think so lowly of him, then he'd give her a real reason to.

"Stop it. I said it was none of your business." While Amy's words seethed in a calm fury, her stomach was knotting up with a deeply rooted fear that Ty had stumbled upon the truth. Even Jack seemed dumbfounded for a moment as Amy's defenses faltered.

"You seem too smart to have been a hooker on the street, but a call girl, well, that doesn't seem too far-fetched." While neither was a very respectable trade, escorts had a bit more business sense and class than your everyday prostitute. Even so, Amy was clearly insulted by the assumption.  
"How dare you," she seethed, blood coursing hot through her veins. "Just because I don't find it anyone's business but my own who the father of my child is doesn't mean I'm hiding some big conspiracy."  
"No, but I think that if we're the ones caring for you and your child, then we at least have the right to know why you're here. Your father kicked you out – why? I don't believe it's because he doesn't want anything to do with you just because you got pregnant. No parent could be that heartless. I think you ran from something – or someone. A client, perhaps? A John who'd sooner kill you than claim a child of his mistress as his own and sully his good name?"  
"Ty, that's enough!" Jack heard enough, but apparently Ty had not heard him at all last night in the barn.

Amy's hand slammed so hard into Ty's cheek the slap could have echoed across the province. The red mark was visible almost as soon as Ty turned his head back to face her lethal glare. She was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling with each ragged, enraged breath. Irate tears blurred her vision while her blood coursed hot through her veins, making her face as red as Ty's. Her bottom lip began to tremble as she inhaled to form a slow and quiet response. "You know nothing of my life, so don't for a second pretend you have it all figured out because you don't. Not even close. Don't you tell me not to put my nose where it doesn't belong if you can't do me the same courtesy."

They stared each other down fiercely, Amy's hands trembling and her palm stinging from the remnants of her slap while Ty's jaw popped as he clenched his jaw to keep from saying more. He'd done more than just piss Amy off and he could see it in the way she fought to control herself. Insulted was a weak term to describe what he saw hidden behind her glossy eyes. She looked wounded, almost ashamed, which made him think that even if his deduction wasn't correct, it wasn't completely wrong either.

* * *

**A/N:** _This chapter fought with me for weeks on end. I'm still not sure how I feel about it because it went a way I hadn't intended but I felt it was a good way for things to start being revealed, even if in very minute doses. I don't intend for the truth, bitter truth, to come out until much later on, but it's fun to speculate until then, eh? Btw, I had to stop myself from having Amy say "You know nothing, Ty Borden." While it would have been an epic moment, I didn't want to take away from the originality of the story. Hah._


	10. Chapter 10

Amy turned on her heel a moment later, storming back toward the house. No doubt to go lock herself in her bedroom once again and pout like a child. Ty didn't care to continue glaring after her and turned to bring the clipboard back to the office so he could get to work. A vice-like grip on his shoulder stopped him – startled him – when he was jerked back and nearly thrown into the wall. He was staring up into the eyes of his grandfather, into a look Ty had not seen on the old man for quite some time but it was a look Ty wasn't ever going to forget. He was in for it and he knew it; which was why he didn't even bother to jump to his own defense before Jack had the chance to speak first.

"I don't know what the hell to do with you anymore. Where do you get off saying those things to her?" Jack was more than just angry; he was pissed with a capital P.

Ty shrugged roughly to get his shoulder from Jack's grip. "Where do you get off bringing that girl here without knowing the truth? What if she's hiding from some kind of drug lord or the mafia. She could have led them straight here. Then what?" It sounded almost ridiculous when he said it out loud, but more absurd things have happened. Spending day after day with hardened criminals and hearing their stories didn't leave much left to surprise.

Jack stood back, getting a hold of himself before he really did lose it. The last thing he wanted to do was haul off and deck his grandson. Amy already did that for him, though Jack wasn't so certain that the message got across as it should have. "Then we'd deal with it." Jack said as if that was the most obvious answer in the world. To him it was.

"I didn't bother to find out the reason because I figured if I needed to know then I would have been told. I don't care the reason and neither should you. It's not our business and if she wants to tell us then she will, but with the way you've been attacking her I doubt very much she will any time soon." Jack did want to know for a myriad of reasons, but mostly just so he had some clue as to what they were dealing with beneath the surface. There was obviously a story, one that must be sitting heavily on Amy's mind from the way she reacted at the mention of it; one he doubted very much was as simple as a boyfriend getting cold feet.

Ty couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Why are you always on her side? What is so special about her that you seem to turn a blind eye to her attitude? She doesn't want to be here. She isn't the least bit grateful for what we're doing for her. She-"

Jack cut him off. "You want gratitude? Say something nice to her for once. There was no reason for you to jump down her throat about receiving that phone call from Kit. Last I recall, it was your fault you two broke up in the first place after you got your ass arrested – again – then didn't call her once since you got out. That's not Amy's fault and I've never been more disappointed in you for trying to turn it around on her."

Ty had no response and because he had no defense, merely scowled in annoyance while clenching his teeth. What Jack said was true, Ty screwed up big time when it came to Kit and he hated being reminded of it. He was trying to make up for that, plus lost time while he was away, but the fact that he neglected to inform her of their new house guest was sure to set him back.  
He realized he shouldn't have been so angry at Amy for answering the phone when she had no idea who would be on the other end, but the fact that it had been Kit of all people frustrated the hell out of him because it just figured that would be his luck. He was going to have to face her some time and he promised himself he wouldn't try to evade her when they got in contact again later, but at the moment he legitimately didn't have the time to sit and talk things out with her – as Jack so sternly reminded him.

"I expect those cows to be rounded up by the time I get back this afternoon." With that statement Jack was putting an end to the argument. He turned to leave the barn, but paused halfway out of the door. "Oh, and if you can't figure out a way to keep your temper in check and be a decent human being before coming in tonight then you can sleep in the loft because I won't have any more of your crap in my house… my house." He jerked a thumb to his chest in emphasis, a blatant reminder of what he'd told him the night before. "And if we have to have this conversation a third time, there will not be a fourth. And that is a promise I damn well intend to keep." It wasn't only a promise, but a warning with threatening undertones that couldn't be ignored.

Jack then left for real that time, leaving Ty to watch him go then angrily throw the clipboard he still held across the aisle. It cracked against the chalkboard, startling the mare in the stall behind him. She snorted and jumped to the back corner of her stall.

Ty immediately felt bad, his rigid stance relaxing as he let out a calming breath and went to pick up the clipboard then wander over to the occupied stall. "Sorry, girl. He just pisses me off sometimes, you know? He lets that girl waltz in here and completely take control even though she's made it perfectly clear she has no interest in being here." Ty puffed air between his lips, watching the horse eye him cautiously. "Whatever." Ty shook his head, fed up and needing to get his mind off of it. There was no better way to do that than spending all day out on the range completely away from Jack and his new ward. A band of criminals would be more pleasant to deal with, except by the time they were all mounted up and heading out, the entire confrontation had spread through the whole ranch.

* * *

It hit her before she quite made it to the house, the pressure building so tight in her chest it was suffocating. It felt as if her world was collapsing around her all over again and the pain of missing home once again overwhelmed her.  
Amy slammed the door behind her, leaving Lobo to stand and whine at the closed door wanting to be let in. But the dog knew well enough by now that he wasn't permitted inside and Amy didn't think to leave the door open an extra second for him. This time she was glad for that, not wanting to stir the pot any more than it already was by getting another lecture on the "rules" of the house.  
She stood back against the closed door, sucking in deep breaths to force control over her emotions that were ready to explode into another hormonal frenzy. She relished the quiet of the house, though her ears wouldn't stop ringing with the sting of Ty's words and accusations.

Her eyes darted to the phone sitting on the base before she went over to snatch it up and retreat to her room mid-dial. Placing another barricade between herself and the rest of the farm through her closed bedroom door, she leaned against it while listening to the ring of the other line, hoping she wouldn't be ignored. Tim had a bad habit of screening his calls, but with the way people were always after him for money he owed them it wasn't surprising Amy too was left to speak to him through the machine.

"Hey… Dad." She tried to keep her voice steady, wanting him to answer rather than avoid her because he didn't want to have to handle her distress that he could hear through her voice. "It's me. I just wanted to let you know I got here… since you never bothered to check in." She paused, hoping that didn't sound as bitter as she thought. "Please pick up, I know you're there." She waited. There was a clicking on the other line as the phone was answered.

"_You know your old man too well._" There was an obvious smile in his voice. "_How was the trip?_"  
Despite her continuously breaking heart, Amy couldn't help but smile to hear her dad's familiar voice again after feeling so ostracized. "Long." She didn't go into much more detail than that, knowing Tim wasn't particularly interested in them and just wanted a general overview to basically know she was alive and well, which was all he cared about, evident from his response.  
"_Good, that's good. It's a nice place out there, huh? Quite the set up they have._" He was forcing small talk and Amy's heart sank as her head bowed to the floor and her smile slipped. He didn't want to continue talking. It was making him uncomfortable so Amy thought it best she just cut to the chase – rip it off like a band aid.

"It is a nice place. But, Dad did you know what it was when you sent me here? That it was crawling with criminals?" She was trying not to sound accusatory, but it was difficult.  
"_I knew._" Was Tim's quick, cautious, response.  
"And you thought I was safest here?"  
"_Yes._" He was being careful with his answers, not wanting to walk into whatever trap his daughter seemed to have set up for him.  
Amy scoffed in disbelief. "These guys are doing hard time, Dad! I'm the only girl around for miles. You really thought this was a good idea?"  
"_They didn't hurt you, did they?_" Tim's voice held a hint of fear, even some remorse. He really did believe that Amy was better off away from the city – away from all that had hurt her there, including him, but she was starting to scare him.

Amy closed her eyes, and inhaled to quiet her voice again, not wanting her father to panic for no reason. "No. But I can't help being afraid they might, or try to. You don't know what you did sending me here, Dad."  
"_You'll be fine, Amy. Jack wouldn't let anything happen to you; he promised me that._" His worries dampened, Tim was back to being dismissive again.  
"It's not working out. I… I can't find a way to make this work." She shook her head, gripping tightly onto the phone. "I want to come home."  
Tim was quiet for a moment; Amy could hear him exhale slowly. _"It's barely been two days. Just give it more time. Give it a real chance just like Jack is giving you and the baby a chance._"  
That was when Amy broke, the tears she fought to suppress spilling down her cheeks. "They don't care about me. Ty thinks I'm some kind of whore…" she hiccupped in attempt to stifle a sob.  
"_You can tell them the truth, Amy. It doesn't have to be a secret._"  
"No? Then why am I here?!" Amy burst, fury tearing through her. "Wasn't this your way of keeping it a secret?"  
"_Amy…_" Exhaustion crept in to Tim's voice and Amy could already picture him eying up the wooden box on the mantle.  
"No, don't you 'Amy' me! You don't get to make me feel like I'm being overly dramatic. You're not the one far from home trying to find some comfort in the company of strangers and wondering just how long you'll last before breaking completely. You get to say things like "Oh, it'll be fine. Just give it a chance" like that's enough to tide me over for another few days, or a week, before you hear from me again. I'm not accepting that this time. I came. I did what you wanted and now I'm saying that it's not going to work. They don't want me here, Dad! I'm not going to stay some place I'm not wanted." She smothered another sob, sniffling and wiping her face dry.  
"_Then leave. No one is keeping you there. You have that money I gave you. Go ahead._"  
Somehow Amy didn't really think that was an invitation to come home. She waited for Tim to keep going, confirming what she already knew.  
"_I gave you your options. You still have the other one open to you._"  
"Dad…" Amy's voice shook. "Please… I'm your daughter…"  
"_And I'm doing what is best for you._"  
"Then let me come home!" Amy begged once more.  
There was a pause before Tim replied in a low voice. "_I don't want you here, Amy._"

The girl froze, her mouth falling agape as her mind began to explode into a frenzy of emotion. The humming of the dial tone was the only thing to break her trance. Her knees buckled and she slid down the door onto the carpet, slowly lowering the phone from her ear. Her chest ached like someone was squeezing it in a vise, the feeling transferring to her hand that clenched around the phone so tightly it shook.

"How could you…" she whispered in agony curling her knees to her chest and folding herself up into a small a space as possible, wishing she could just disappear. Even if she felt so alone before, she at least held onto the small hope that things would cool over with her father and they'd get back to being on better terms and maybe she'd be able to convince him that everything would work out fine if he let her come home. Now that hope was had just been terminated with just a few sharp words meant to hurt her. He was deliberately pushing her away. He wanted her to hate him so she didn't want to come home. But she was fighting it, trying hard to believe that what he said wasn't really true – he couldn't actually feel that way and eventually he'd give in to his fatherly love for his daughter. She was all he had left. Well, except for Lou, but the older Fleming sister made it perfectly clear she wanted nothing to do with him beyond sending a card a few times a year.

It took a moment for the true realization to sink in, and when it did Amy fell apart. She sobbed into her legs, cradling the phone to her chest. That was it. The door closed on her and couldn't be reopened. She had the feeling if she tried calling back she'd be ignored, but after that blow Amy didn't have the strength to talk to her father again – at least not now. Now, she had to figure out how to make it through the rest of this day with her chin up if she had a chance in hell of getting to tomorrow. She couldn't let Ty know he'd shaken her, even if she was pretty sure he already did. Her reaction was a little severe, but warranted in her opinion. Those were some nasty things to say to anyone and Amy just hoped that she would be able to avoid him for the rest of the day to settle down and regroup. Getting away from the ranch was about her best option so when her sobs began to ebb and the tears slowed, Amy picked herself up from the floor and cautiously walked down the hall to the bathroom, hoping she was still along, to freshen herself up a little.

When she came out again, her eyes still red and puffy but looking a little better after some concealer, she wandered into the kitchen for a glass of water, coming face to face with Jack. She stopped, staring up at him with a sudden fear that her attempt to move on with her day was going to again be thwarted by prying questions. After the scene in the yard, she wouldn't be surprised.

He swung the ring holding his truck key around his finger, catching it in his fist. "Come on. You and I need to have a little talk."


	11. Chapter 11

Once again Amy was left to suffer through a long journey filled with an uncomfortable silence as she sat beside Jack in his old Chevy. Unlike Ty, who blared his radio, Jack didn't bother to turn his on and merely stared straight through the windshield as he navigated through a series of long country roads that were only vaguely familiar to Amy from the day before. Jack said he wanted to have a talk, but he had yet to even say a word to her. Either he didn't know how to go about it or changed his mind. Personally, Amy hoped it was the latter. She really didn't want any more lectures or speeches that day. It wasn't even noon and she was already spent and ready to crawl into bed.

Unfortunately, it was when she let her guard down and her mind wander out toward the vast expanse of rolling pasture land all around them, contemplating how easy it would be to get lost as one farm collided with the next with seemingly no dividing line until you looked closely to see the barbed wire stretching from one earth-toned pole to the next, that Jack decided to break the monotony.

"I'm sorry for my idiot grandson saying those things to you. I thought he was raised better than that." From his tone it was obvious Jack was still ticked off about it. Amy was too since it was brought up again and she was left to relive the moment forever embedded in her bitter memories after she'd been about to find a place of serenity for the first time in a very long time. For a moment all of her problems and concerns muddled in her mind and she was so close to forgetting about them, if only for a short while. That instant of peace was gone faster than she could get it to come.

"Being a jerk isn't necessarily hereditary," Amy grumbled as she looked out her window toward a working oil pump in the distance. Jack acted nothing like his moody grandson and Amy regretted how easily Ty could get her riled up to the point where even Jack wasn't immune to her explosive attitude. As much as Amy didn't want to be there, he didn't deserve that. He opened his home to her and battled her reluctance with all the patience in the world. Ty was a different story. He didn't want her there any more than Amy wanted to be and rather than find peace on that common ground they clashed in a battle of wills.

"You never met his father," Jack argued, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. "Brad wasn't exactly world's greatest dad. Wouldn't call him anything more than a sperm donor, to be honest."

Amy turned her eyes away from the window to look at Jack, trying to read the look of contempt in his gaze as he talked about his son-in-law. She had wondered what happened to Ty's parents. She learned that his mother died, like her own, but there was no mention of his father. She also assumed that if she were to bother asking, then those same questions would be reciprocated and Amy didn't want to know that badly.  
"So, is that why he's so angry? Daddy issues?" In some indirect way Amy could relate, knowing her own child was going to suffer the same fate of growing up with an absentee father. She just hoped she was around to do a better job of raising him, or her, not to be bitter about it. Ty might not be happy that she was invading his life, but his bitterness toward her went deeper than just that. There was anger somewhere inside that he was having a hard time trying to suppress and it sometimes slipped through the cracks.

But Jack was shaking his head. "It's not just that, but it doesn't help matters that Brad was never around with Ty growing up or showed much interest in him at all. I tried but…" He stopped there, not wanting to start anything with Ty if he found out that Amy now knew his entire life story and could possibly use it as a weapon against him. With the way things were fuming between them, he didn't want to give her that kind of ammunition without knowing she wouldn't use it maliciously. He liked to think she was a bigger person than that, but sometimes it was hard to control what was said in the heat of rage. And Ty seemed to know how to stoke that fire.

"We all have our inner demons," he finished, turning to Amy and giving her a curt nod. He knew she did too, that were more than likely rooted in the child she was carrying.

Amy sighed and turned away from him, shifting to slouch further in the seat. "Way to be subtle, Jack." She could sense a prompt when she saw one. "I'd prefer to keep my inner demons…inner, if you don't mind." There were just some things that needed to be kept private.

"It might make things a whole lot easier for us all if we knew the whole story. It's your business, I get that, but you and Ty are a lot more alike than either of you would care to admit. You're both stubborn, strong-willed, and heavily guarded. Your pasts are your pasts and you don't want anyone judging you for them while you try to make peace with them. The problem with that is it hobbles you from truly moving forward. You hold it in so people won't learn the truth, but it's the truth that will set you free." The words weighed heavily in the silence that followed. Once again Jack managed to find a way to form a chink in her armor and for a moment Amy contemplated pros and cons. She wanted to make some snarky comment about quoting scripture, but for once bit her tongue and let it go. For purely selfish reasons, she weighted the cons.

"Sometimes the truth hurts," she eventually replied in another effort to hopefully get Jack to back down and just leave well enough alone. He wasn't demanding answers, but he was hoping she would provide them anyway.

"Only for a little while," he added gently, letting the conversation, or more like borderline interrogation in Amy's eyes, drop at that. While he did hope Amy would eventually offer some kind of insight, he was willing to wait until she was ready. It had only been a couple of days and trust wasn't just something that was automatically given, especially by someone who had been betrayed one too many times. Even if she never fully came to trust him with such delicate information, Jack hoped she would at least trust that his motives were genuine and he harbored no hidden agenda by taking her in. He certainly didn't owe Tim Fleming any favors. In fact, he had a lifetime of them to cash in on Amy's father. That wasn't what this was about. Ty hit it pretty hard when he claimed it was Jack's bleeding heart that led them there. It was also his bleeding heart that managed to turn a several dozen lives around for the better. Amy and her child were just another pair to hopefully add to that list, but it seemed it was the change in demographic that threw everyone off. She wasn't a criminal, had no record or outstanding warrants. She was just a girl who made a few poor decisions in her young life and now had to face the consequences for the rest of it. She didn't deserve to be punished for that, even if she saw her banishment as the cruel and unusual sort.

* * *

Sitting in the waiting area of the doctor's office with Jack was a little more nerve wracking than Amy anticipated. And, no, it wasn't because she was an 18-year-old girl in an OB/GYN office with a man old enough to be her grandfather. She didn't care how scandalous they may look to others. She had bigger concerns and there was a stack of them clipped to the board in her lap. The first couple of pages of the new patient forms went by easily, but then Amy became stumped and increasingly uneasy when they began to seek information she was not able to give. She flipped back and forth between the pages, the pen rolling between her fingers in a desperate attempt to hold herself together. The questions provided weren't bringing good thoughts and provoked even worse memories.

Aside from her fidgeting hand, Amy remained very still in her chair, aware of Jack sitting right next to her with his newspaper that she'd bet money he found less interesting than the blank pages in Amy's lap. She didn't dare sneak a peek to see if that was in fact the case, not wanting to provide an opportunity for him to comment. But if he was being nosy then he was sure to notice her hesitation.

"I don't even know why I have to fill these out now. What if I don't approve and want another doctor? Then I'd have wasted my time doing this," she huffed, letting the folded pages fall back to cover the empty spaces on the others. Jack told her their visit was merely a consultation. He said if she didn't like Dr. Virani then they'd find someone else. Right now she wanted someone else who wouldn't ask so many invasive questions.

"And if you do then we'll have to sit here longer while you finish and as much as I enjoy having a reason to make my grandson do all of the work, there are other things I want to do today." He glanced sideways at her from his paper.

"You're the one who set this up," Amy argued.

"It's called being proactive," Jack replied as his attention drifted back to his reading. "You never get anywhere in life always reacting or life will define how you live it. Get ahead of it and you'll make your own path."

"That's deep Dr. Covey, but I think I should be in charge of my own path." Amy stood and placed the half empty clipboard on the counter for the receptionist.

"You are. But you aren't the only one affected by the choices you made thus far. I was merely taking charge of my life by setting up this appointment so it wouldn't have to be done at a time when no one is available to take you." He shook out the paper as Amy came back to her seat.

"I could have taken myself. I'm old enough to drive, you know." She didn't like being treated like such a child. She was eighteen. In the eyes of the law, she was officially an adult now. Even if she wasn't, the fact that she was going to become a parent pretty much forced her to grow up whether she was ready or not. But Amy learned to grow up long before then. Even if she didn't know a lot about raising a child, she at least knew she needed to have a doctor to guide her through her pregnancy. If Jack hadn't gone ahead and been "proactive" without even consulting her first, Amy would have done it on her own. After she was no longer in denial about her fate there in Hudson, anyway.

Jack chuckled. "Except you're forgetting you need a vehicle to get anywhere around these parts. Or a horse. And seeing as you don't have much interest in them or have a truck of your own, I'd say you're pretty much at the mercy of those of us that do."

Amy gave the cowboy a hard look. "I'm never going to be able to win with you, am I?"  
Jack was quiet for a moment. "It's not about winning and losing. But if you want to win, then you shouldn't look at it like you're losing."

Her eyes narrowed, trying to make sense of what Jack just said to her. She wasn't sure if she should be calling bullshit or absorbing those words of wisdom. But before she could figure it out the doctor appeared in the doorway with a welcoming smile.

"Jack! How are you?"  
Jack closed his paper and stood, Amy following suit, and embraced the doctor like an old friend. "Doing good, Tricia. How's the world of a medical specialist treating you?"

"I have to say I don't miss dealing with bullheaded old men like you. Though sometimes the hormones in this place are a little too much for even me to take," she laughed. Before Dr. Virani moved from family practice to obstetrics she was recruited by Lisa to serve as Jack's physician after his former passed away - unbeknownst to him who hadn't scheduled an appointment in several years until his heart attack. They had a very strained, argumentative, relationship in the beginning when Jack would skip appointments and challenge every treatment she tried to prescribe. Eventually, things leveled out between them when he learned that she pushed back a lot harder than he did. Now that Tricia had gotten out of general practice, it was back to square one with his new physician.

"I don't doubt it." Jack shifted to look at Amy then as if it was the mention of overpowering hormones that reminded him she was still standing there. "This is the young lady I called about."

Dr. Virani shifted her smile to Amy, extending her hand. "Yes, Amy Fleming. It's nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Tricia Virani."

Amy took the good doctor's hand. "Hi." She was polite, not curt, but her guard raised and held at the ready to attack at the first sign of offensive maneuvers.

"I'll let you ladies get acquainted. I'll be here when you're done," Jack told Amy, moving to sit back with his newspaper. This was going to be his only chance today to read it, so he was going to take advantage of the free time while he had it. It wasn't time he was used to having and didn't always know how to fill it when he did, often finding some other small task that could probably wait for another time but why put it off when he had the time then. Now he had nothing else to do but wait for Amy, and that was what he was going to do.

"Come on back, Amy. I'll try not to keep you long." Dr. Virani held out her arm to herd Amy toward the door leading into the back then into an empty examination room. Because it was merely an introductory visit, there weren't any ominous tools or machines sitting out in the room. Everything was clean and neatly tucked away.

"Have a seat." Amy scooted up onto the table and hung her legs over the edge to face the doctor when she rolled a stool over from beneath the counter. She sat with Amy's half-filled out packet of papers, going through the pages.

"Do you know how far along you are?" And there started the interrogation.  
"Ten weeks and four days." Amy answered automatically without so much as a pause, causing Tricia to lift her eyes with interest.  
"That's very precise. So you know the conception date then."  
"I wrote it on the paper." She really hated answering obvious questions. Of course she was going to keep track of every unprotected sexual encounter she ever had with a guy. What self-respecting woman didn't? Not that it was hard, at least not for her, since there was only that one time. That one stinking time when all the odds had been stacked against her.  
"I see that's about all you wrote," Tricia went back to flipping through the first couple of pages that were complete with Amy's medical history. "You don't have any information on the father?" Those were the pages left unfinished; the answers Amy didn't know.  
"Not enough to make much of a difference. We weren't very close." Amy fidgeted, sitting on her hands to keep from wringing them.  
"I see." Tricia began to make notes on the page.

Amy stared at her hand, trying to read what she was writing down and feeling her defenses flare at the thought of what this woman must be thinking. What Ty said of her earlier was still burning on her nerves.  
"I'm not a slut," Amy spoke up defensively, halting any assumptions before they could be made.  
The doctor stopped writing and looked up at Amy a little surprised by her abrupt tone. "Of course not, dear. I never thought you were." Her voice was kind, but Amy still didn't believe she was being sincere.  
"We only ask for the father's medical history because it helps us determine if there are any genetic disorders we should be aware of that could be passed on to the baby."  
Amy's spine straightened. She hadn't thought of that before. Of what possible genetic anomalies her baby could have because of the son of a bitch that put it there.  
"I-I really don't know." A new fear began to creep up on her that something could be wrong with her child. That he or she would be born with an autoimmune disease or congenital defect that would plague them and hinder his or her ability to have a full and normal life. Things were going to be hard enough for them.  
"It's okay if you don't know. We'll just monitor the baby closely throughout the pregnancy to determine if there's any need for testing."  
Blood began to drain from Amy's face. Suddenly this all became a little too serious and complex for her. "Testing?"  
"For any kind of genetic anomaly. But we may not need to worry about it, especially not today. Today is just to get to know each other and determine if there is a next time. Okay?" Tricia assured the young girl, finishing her note then moving the clipboard off to the side.

She leaned her arms on her legs and studied her patient carefully, wanting to talk to her as a friend - a mother - rather than a doctor. "How are you coping with all of this? I know it's a lot for someone your age, especially when it's not planned. Do you have family who can help you?" It was easy to see the stress and uncertainty Amy was suffering through from her reactions. She was trying to maintain a poker face but was caught off guard and it slipped to reveal the truly scared young girl beneath.

Obviously Jack didn't inform Tricia of the whole story and Amy gave him credit for that, but now she was the one who had to do it. Slowly, Amy shook her head, lowering her eyes from the doctor's sympathetic stare.  
"That's why I'm staying with Jack. He seems to be the only one who actually cares what happens to me." Saying it out loud, without a second thought, was the moment Amy realized she always knew it, but just so badly wanted to go home that she would have blackened the name of the pope if it got her there. Maybe Ty didn't care or her father, but Jack did. That was why he was doing all of this. It wasn't just about being proactive, but taking some of the weight from Amy's shoulders. He was showing her she didn't have to go it alone and would find the comfort she sought if she allowed herself to accept things as they were instead of fight them. It was what he'd been saying to her all along and what she tried to tell herself earlier that morning before climbing out of bed. It was the hurt of Ty's malicious words that caused her to regress.

Tricia nodded. "He's a good man, with a soft heart. His head on the other hand…" She smiled, making one tug at Amy's lips, too. "He likes to play hardball but I'd say he's definitely someone you can count on."

"Yeah," said Amy softly, biting lightly on her lip. It did make her feel better to hear it from more than just her father, whom she lost complete trust in, but she still had so many things to figure out in the long term it was hard to just focus on the here and now. Surely Jack wouldn't allow her to stay forever. It was just a temporary arrangement. At least that was the assumption she was under. However, Amy had no plan. She was just thrust into this situation without given a second to breathe or a moment to formulate a strategy and now she felt like she was just treading water trying to keep herself afloat, except she also had the added responsibility of a helpless child. It was a lot for her to process and only made her want to crawl back into bed. Facing the doctor today opened a whole new perspective and jar of worries to concern herself with.

Dr. Virani was still watching Amy carefully, seeing every frantic thought pass over her features. It wasn't often they dealt with teen pregnancy in Hudson, but before moving there from the city, Tricia saw quite a bit of it. She could see so many of those young girls in Amy now and not all of them were as well off. But every single one of them was able to find the little shining light to guide them through.  
"Would you like to see your baby?" And that was it. That was what held them together despite being the thing the threw their lives into such chaos.

Amy lifted her eyes, feeling her heart thump harder in her chest. "Yes," she breathed. The thought of getting a glimpse of the life inside of her made her more excited than she'd been for anything since before discovering it was there at all.

Dr. Virani smiled again. "Okay. Let's set something up for the beginning of next week." Standing, she tucked the clipboard beneath her arm and invited Amy to walk with her back to the receptionist.

For a moment Amy's excitement had been trampled, thinking she meant now. But when they set up the appointment for first thing Monday morning, Amy then realized that she had something to look forward to to get her through the rest of the week. If she could just make those little milestones for herself, getting from one day to the next wouldn't seem so agonizing. Then maybe, she'd find it easier to acclimate to small town life on a ranch.


	12. Chapter 12

"So, I take it things went well." Jack noted as they headed back out to the truck, Amy holding onto her appointment card with Dr. Virani's contact information printed on the front.  
She could see his attempt at hiding a smug little grin and shook her head. "I feel like there's an 'I told you so' hidden between those words."  
Jack chuckled. "Well, I did, didn't I?"  
"Sure, Jack," Amy caved, "You were right. I'm sorry I argued about… well, everything," she added sincerely after climbing in the Chevy.  
"Ah, don't worry about it." He waved off her apology, knowing all too well how defensive people became when thrown into trying circumstances. They did what they could to hide their weaknesses and survive. It was instinct on an intellectual level.

"You hungry?" He changed the subject to something more conversational. Amy was glad for it. She was definitely in need of some stress relief.  
"These days, always. If I'm not sick to my stomach anyway." Her morning sickness had long since subsided and the mention of food formed that all too familiar hollow feeling in her stomach that needed urgent filling.  
"We'll stop at Maggie's before heading back. She's got the best gig in town and a daughter about your age." Jack put the truck in reverse and backed out into the street.  
"Are you trying to schedule play-dates for me now, Jack?" Amy wasn't annoyed, her words were in jest, but it did seem rather odd Jack would take the time to mention that.  
"Not at all. I just figure having a friend outside the ranch might help." He was trying to offer her a small ounce of hope with the possibility of making friends who weren't convicted males.

For once that was something Amy wasn't opposed to. She could really use a good female friend, or just someone she could have those girl talks with. Making friends wasn't hard for her to do when she made the effort. But she felt backed into a corner being thrown into Heartland's lap and her first instinct was to defend herself, thus making that friendship thing a little difficult. Maybe having a reason to get away from that confinement on occasion would help.

Driving just a block down the main street, Jack swung into a spot right out front of the diner Amy and Ty passed the day before when she'd leaned out the window to check the hours of operation.  
"I thought you had other things to do today." The way he talked, she assumed they would leave the clinic then stop at some fast food joint on their way back to the ranch where the guys were busy rounding up cattle.  
"I do. Eating is one of them. Can't work on an empty stomach. But I have to check on an order too, so we'll be killing two birds with one stone." Amy was right that there was still a lot of work to get through at the ranch and they were burning daylight every minute they lingered in town. Jack just hoped that Ty and the guys made some progress, but this was also his way of testing his grandson's commitment to his position and a way for Ty to prove he was capable of running the place without Jack breathing down his neck to keep things in working order.

Amy didn't get what Jack meant by checking an order until she stepped into the diner. It wasn't just a diner, but also a tack and feed shop. The tack part of the building was at the back, with it's own entrance that ran right into the diner. It was actually a neat little building, one Amy didn't give enough credit the day before after merely glimpsing at it from the outside. It was also bustling with clientele which, as Jack pointed out, was probably because it was the best place in town. Or more like the _only _place in town.

"Have a seat and order whatever you want. I'll just have the chili. I'm going to go talk with Maggie." Jack left Amy to slide into a vacant stool at the counter while he headed into the tack store where the woman was ringing up a customer.

"Hi! You must be new around here." Amy looked up at the dark-haired girl that appeared in front of her. It took her only a moment to guess she was the daughter her age that Jack mentioned. She appeared friendly enough, but that was the job of anyone working in public service.  
"How did you guess?" Amy smiled, folding her arms on the counter.  
"Because I know everyone that is anyone in this town and I've never seen you before. Just passing through?" She placed a glass in front of Amy and poured ice water into it - obviously habit.  
Amy watched the glass fill, not wanting to be impolite by informing the girl she wasn't staying long. "Not exactly. I'm, um, staying with the Bartletts for a while."  
The girl set the pitcher down and looked over at Jack who was laughing at something Maggie said. "Oh, right. Jack mentioned something about getting a visitor. I'm Soraya, by the way." She offered her hand, which Amy accepted, momentarily tensing to hear what else Jack happened to mention, but either that was as much as Soraya knew of her appearance or was simply being polite by not being nosy. Either way, Amy was relieved.  
"Amy."  
"So how long are you staying?" Soraya turned around to put the pitcher back and grabbed a menu to place in front of Amy.  
As appreciative as Amy was to be able to have a conversation with someone in her demographic, she still wasn't so keen on being bombarded with questions. She realized that it was probably a habit for Soraya to make small talk with patrons, but it made Amy uneasy. Eventually those surface questions would run out and the deeper ones would arise.  
"I'm not sure," Amy opened the menu and busied herself reading it, trying to draw a response without arising suspicion. "Long enough to probably try everything on this menu."

Soraya smiled before plucking the menu from Amy's hand. "Well, in that case, let me give you a tip and suggest the chili. It's a local favorite."  
Amy laughed softly. "Okay, two chilies to go then, please."  
"Alright, coming right up." Soraya disappeared into the kitchen.

While she sat sipping her water, Amy realized her brief conversation with Soraya was probably the first thing in months that made her actually smile and feel like a normal teenager again. For that short time she almost forgot where she was and why she was there and that she wasn't a normal teenager sitting on that stool. Even when she worried about how to answer Soraya's questions it wasn't with complete fear that she was going to get backed into another corner and forced to speak truths she was continuing to deny herself. She relaxed on that stool, enjoyed being out of her self-confinement, and found herself breathing easier for the first time since that chilly February night.

Jack was still back with Maggie when Soraya reappeared with a paper bag containing their order, setting it down in front of Amy.  
"Ah, Jack didn't give me money…" she said awkwardly, not wanting Soraya to think she was going to try to skip out without paying. She had money of her own that her dad put aside in a bank account for her while she was at Heartland, plus what she had left from her part-time job back home, but it was all still tucked away in the bank.  
But Soraya waved it off. "Don't worry about it, I'll add it to his tab when his grain order comes in."  
"Oh. Well in that case, can you maybe add a chocolate shake onto this order?" Amy grinned, only half joking as the door chimed behind her. If that's how things worked around there then she was sure as hell going to take advantage of that part of Jack's hospitality. He did tell her to order what she wanted after all.  
Soraya laughed, pushing off the counter. "Sure thing. That just happens to be my specialty."

"Oh, one for me too, please, Soraya?"

Amy turned to see a petite girl with a mass of brunette curls lean on the counter beside her. She turned to smile at Amy. "Soraya's milkshakes are the bomb and somehow always cure relationship blues."  
"Ugh, don't tell me he blew you off again," Soraya groaned, throwing a look of sympathy over her shoulder toward her friend.  
The new girl sighed and slid into a stool one away from Amy. "Yep, except this time he had some other girl do it for him." She shook her head.  
"What girl?" Soraya asked, turning to stick the tumbler under the mixer.  
"Someone named-" the girl began to answer but was cut off when Jack returned.  
"Kit, how are you?" Amy's stomach jolted. This was the girl that phoned the ranch earlier.  
"Hey, Mr. Bartlett. Is Ty with you?" She seemed hopeful.  
"No, I'm sorry to say he's back at the ranch rounding up some cattle." He pulled some cash from his pocket and placed it on the counter as Soraya set Amy's milkshake in front of her. It seemed to be the time of year for that as Kit nodded and said she was just helping her father do the same the day before.  
"Oh. Did he, uh, do you know if he got my call?"  
Jack glanced toward Amy who tried to hold her poker face. "He got your message. He's just been busy this morning. I'll let him know you were asking about him." Jack nodded in assurance, Kit mimicking the motion.  
"Okay. Thanks. Just tell him to call when he can."  
"Will do. You ready, Amy?"

Kit's gaze darted to Amy, recognition in her eyes as she put two and two together, but Amy didn't bother to confirm that, yes, she was the same Amy who Ty supposedly had blow her off.  
"Yeah." She slid from the stool and slipped out the door with her shake, leaving Jack to grab the take-out bag. She really didn't want to get caught in the middle of that relationship drama again. Ty was already ticked at her for seemingly no reason, she didn't want to exacerbate it and have him spit more false accusations at her.

Amy was climbing into the truck when Jack came out of the diner, a moment later followed by Kit. "Mr. Bartlett?" Amy watched them through the windshield, her door still ajar.  
"I was thinking. You know, we finished our branding this morning and I've got some free time this afternoon. If you needed it, I'd be happy to come by and help." Her dark eyes flicked to Amy, who turned hers down the street.  
"Uh, well, sure, if you're offering. We could always use an extra set of experienced hands. You know those new guys still don't know the front of a cow from the back."  
Kit laughed. "For sure. I'll catch you later, then."

Amy watched Jack climb in the driver's seat of his truck and hand her the bag of food. "Are you sure that was a good idea? Ty seemed pretty upset over her this morning." Surely he hadn't forgotten, as that was the whole reason for that morning's spat that would leave bitterness in Amy's attitude toward him.  
"From what I gathered he was upset it wasn't him that answered the phone. Even if he had, I'm not so certain it would have ended any better. They have some things they need to work out, but that's their business. If Ty isn't happy I agreed to let Kit help then he can suck it up because even he knows we can use all that we can get. Now close the door so we can get to it."  
Amy reached out to close the door as Jack requested. "Alright, but I'm not taking the brunt of this one if he decides to throw a tantrum again."  
"You two are going to be the next remedial counseling project if you can't learn to be adults."  
"I tried! This morning was going fine until he-"  
"Enough. I don't want to hear anymore complaining. Ty was wrong to have attacked you like that. Kit was a sensitive subject for him even before you came along and I'm sorry you had to fall into that territory but whining about it won't get you anywhere fast." Jack scowled through the windshield. It had only been two days and he could already feel the energy being drained from him trying to keep the peace between Amy and his grandson. If something didn't give soon, it was going be him - giving them timeout locked in his outhouse together until they came to an amicable resolution.  
Huffing, Amy fell back against the seat and drowned her woes in Soraya's magical milkshake. Even if it didn't have quite the power Kit claimed, it tasted pretty amazing and kept her from continuing to argue with Jack, which she now knew was not a road she wanted to go down while trapped in a vehicle with him.


	13. Chapter 13

"I don't see any cows." Amy remarked as they pulled up in front of the barn. She thought the place would be swarming with four-legged steaks accompanied by a stench that would make her long for the polluted air of the city. But the farm was surprisingly quiet and the handful of workers that remained were busy mucking stalls or otherwise caring for the horses in the yard.

"You won't unless they've gone astray. We keep them at the far end of the property," Jack was saying while shutting down the engine and picking up the takeout bag from between them.

"Oh."

Jack paused before getting out to look at Amy. "Disappointed you're going to miss the show?" Maybe this place was beginning to win her over afterall.

"No," Amy answered as if the idea were absurd. "I'm relieved. I'm sure they can't smell much better than the horses." She was still trying to get accustomed to that and forced herself not to hold her breath as they got out of the truck. She awaited the day it no longer bothered her, even if that meant she was to be there that long. After the phone call with her father earlier, Amy pretty much swallowed the hope of him coming to rescue her with a guilty conscience. If he felt any regret, he was ignoring it, or at least succeeded in making her believe he had none. She didn't want to believe her father could be that way but she'd been wrong before. She just thought - more like hoped - that when it came to her things would be different.

"Well, you're welcome to tag along if you like." Jack offered, holding out the bag for her to take.

Amy considered that a moment. She wanted to learn more about the place if she was going to be stranded there, but she had the feeling that she wouldn't be a mere spectator if she did show up and wasn't so certain she wanted to get involved with whatever it was they were doing to those cows. Jack also told her that they were at the far side of the property, land he mentioned was best explored on horseback, which they already established was something Amy had no present desire to learn. "Maybe next time. I still have unpacking to do."

"So, decided to stay, have you?" Jack didn't sound all that surprised, which only made Amy want to oppose out of spite, but she bit her tongue and rethought her reply, choosing different words.

"Until Monday at least. After that, I guess we'll see how things go." She offered Jack a small smile. The thought of living at Heartland indefinitely was daunting, even scary, because she had yet to grow accustomed to it and the people there. Everything was still new and unfamiliar. Yet, to think about the alternative and having nowhere else to go was even more so. In the grand scheme of things, the ranch seemed the lesser of evils.

Jack nodded, thinking that was a decent start. He was afraid Amy would give up too easily, that her stubbornness would act as blinders and hinder her ability to see the big picture.

Amy took her lunch of chili up to the house while Jack brought his into the barn to eat on the round up. Lobo sat on the porch as she approached, almost as if he was waiting for her. It made her smile to see the dog and lowered herself down beside him on the steps. She set the bag aside when he sniffed at it as not to entice him and offered a pet instead. He groaned in pleasure then leaned into her as he rolled onto his back to ask for a belly rub. "That feels good, doesn't it?"

Amy sat outside with Lobo until she saw Jack emerge from the barn with his painted horse, climb aboard and ride off into the trees at the edge of the yard, leaving her alone on the ranch. Well, almost. She felt a chill run through her spine and scanned the yard to see a set of eyes watching her from the barn door. Hank stood there unmoving, thoroughly creeping her out to the point of getting up to go inside where she could lock the door between them.

Lobo got up to follow her, both of them hesitating when Amy opened the door. The dog knowing he wasn't allowed inside and Amy debating whether or not she wanted to run the risk of getting scolded again. Glancing over her shoulder as if looking for Jack or Ty to catch her disobeying their rules, she ushered the canine into the house, feeling safer with him there even if he was most likely too old to do much of anything. "Just don't tell anyone. It'll be our secret." She told the dog as she really did lock the door behind them, peeking out of the small window toward the barn where Hank still remained, watching the house for a moment longer before disappearing into the barn again.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Amy looked down at the dog, giving his head a scratch. "I don't know about you, but he is the definition of skeevy." She then brought Lobo back to her bedroom to truly begin unpacking and make her room feel more like her own space.

* * *

Jack was surprised, but relieved, to find that Ty and the guys managed to get most of the cattle herded into a large round pen, equipped with chutes to hold the calves for their inoculations and tagging. Ty was just chasing the last few through the gate, Jim swinging it closed when Jack rode up along the perimeter.  
"Not bad. Not bad at all," he called to his grandson over the mooing cows.

"I told you I had it covered," Ty called back, skirting his horse, Harley, around a heifer to join his grandfather.

"I never doubted you could do it on your own. Keeping those guys in line, maybe, but those cows are a little more predictable."

Ty shook his head, squinting against the sun toward the herd. "There was some debate over whose horse was bigger, but I think we came to an amicable consensus."

"Yeah, and what was that?"

"That Harley wasn't even in the running." Ty cracked a smile and leaned forward to pat his little cow pony's neck.

Jack chuckled, but did have to agree. Harley wasn't the biggest horse in the herd but he was sturdy, reliable, and taught Ty everything he needed to know about training a mustang.

"Alright, so Jim is our cutter, and I've got John and Brett as our wrestlers. Everyone else is on stand-by to brand, tag, and inoculate." Ty ran off his plan, thinking he'd paired everyone appropriately, but still waited for his grandfather's approval, not that he openly showed that he cared for it.

Jack nodded as a feminine voice called above the commotion in the corral. "Hey!"

Ty jerked around, thinking he misheard, until he was face to face with Kit riding up on her mare, Daisy. "Kit." He shot Jack an incredulous look, knowing this was his doing. He just couldn't keep his nose in his own business and if Kit hadn't been within earshot, Ty would have told him so.

"Looks like I made it just in time for the fun part." Kit rode up beside Jack, her eyes fixated on Ty as she tried to gage his reaction to her appearance. Ty didn't know what his face was giving away or hiding, but from the way Kit's smile faltered, it wasn't anything she hoped to see.

Jack looked between the two young people, piping in when Ty didn't bother to say anything. "Sure did. Why don't you get out there and give Jim a hand with the cutting."

Kit tried to maintain her poker face as she continued to look at Ty, but his expression never changed. "Sure." She rode around the corral toward the gate, making a valiant attempt at not sneaking another glance at Ty.

"What is she doing here?" Ty rounded on his grandfather as soon as Kit was no longer near them, his expression visibly hardened.

"Nothing wrong with another pair of hands," Jack explained calmly.

"We don't need any more hands." Ty sounded like a five-year-old on the playground, excluding a girl who wanted to join in a game with him and his friends because girls were gross. Even though this situation was different, the same level of maturity was there.

"Kit has lifetime of experience with cattle. Until recently those guys have never seen a hamburger before it's on the way to their mouths, so I'd say the more the merrier. And, actually, without Caleb, we're short a man, so Kit is just the set of hands we do need." Jack reasoned, knowing Ty knew he was right. But, of course, would never give in and admit to it. There was some respectability in that stubbornness, but also stupidity.

"Let me remind you again whose fault it is that we don't have Caleb here because you couldn't leave well enough alone." Ty wasn't upset because Jack invited Kit over and the older man knew that. What he was was embarrassed and ashamed, two emotions not easily worn by anyone whose deadly sin was their pride. He wasn't prepared to face his former girlfriend. In fact, he did all he could to avoid that very strange and uncomfortable situation. Now, because Jack was sick of the lying and watching the poor girl suffer, he took it upon himself to force them together despite knowing the wrath it would incur. It hadn't necessarily been his own plan, but when Kit approached him in town earlier, he saw no reason not to give them a little push.

"That girl has been trying to contact you for months and all you've been doing is lying and avoiding her. I can only assume she's trying to make sense of your behavior and figure out where you stand. Stop being a coward and talk to her. She deserves at least that after how you treated her when you were away." Kit tried to be supportive during Ty's stint in prison. She would visit him as much as she could, even send care packages, but more often than not he refused to see her and would disperse the goodies she sent to the other inmates. Ty had not been kind to Kit during that time, no matter how hard she tried, and continued to try even now that he was again a free man.

"Just keep out of my business, Jack. You want to rag on me about how to handle these cows or run the establishment, then fine; but Kit is off limits." Jack really had no business in the area and even he knew that, but Kit asking if she could help seemed like a plea for help of her own and that bleeding heart of his just couldn't deny her the chance to get face to face with Ty she sought.

Jack relented. He kept his nose out of it this long and had no intention of being directly involved again unless it was asked of him. He did his part in whatever plan Kit had and he was willing to back off. "Alright. But if you want her to leave then you can ask her yourself." They both knew he wouldn't, because that would mean he would have to actually get close enough to speak with her, but having her stay meant she'd be hanging around all afternoon and the chance of them bumping into each other was just as high. At this point it was only a matter of how long before they broke the ice.

Jack rode off, leaving Ty to stare at his back in a huff. His eyes slid over to Kit as she took charge and directed Jim through the herd as they picked a calf to break away. He was aware that he was being difficult and kind of a jerk. Kit did deserve better. The thing was, Ty had no idea what to say to her, or what she wanted to hear. It felt as if too much time had passed; that it was too late to fix what he broke. He wasn't even sure if he wanted it to be fixed. He and Kit used to be good together before he got himself into trouble but things changed since then – he changed. He hadn't meant to hurt Kit, but knew he did. He just didn't know how badly and was really afraid to find out.

So, he did what he knew he was good at and continued to avoid her all afternoon. He traded men any time he had to do something with or near her and could see the disapproval in his grandfather's stare. She remained pretty well contained with the herd, focusing on one calf after another, driving them out for the wrestlers to drag into the chute where they could be branded, tagged, and inoculated all in one fell swoop. There was so much going on it really was difficult to think about much else than the task at hand. Even so, they still had not finished by dusk when Jack called it a day before it was too dark to see their way back to the ranch where the van would be waiting to take the inmates back to the prison.

"Good work today, fellas. How's that bum of yours Brett?" Jack asked with a chuckle as the man waved a tentative thumb up. Everyone was sore and dirty, having been working in a cloud of dust all day or, in Brett's case, dragged across the ground. There was little chatter as they began to head back toward the yard, Ty hanging back to double check that the fences and gates were properly secured. The last thing he wanted was to wake up to half their herd gone. He'd never hear the end of it.

He was coming around the far side when he saw Kit lingering in the falling darkness watching him. They were barely ten feet apart, giving Ty no chance of pretending he hadn't seen her and ducking out. He pulled Harley up short before he could get any closer and stared at her.

"Can we talk?" She asked carefully, almost as if expecting him to bolt on her if she said moved too suddenly.

"I'm really exhausted, Kit." Ty hedged. It was true. He really did just want to get back to the house, fill his belly, then face plant into his pillow until morning. He also didn't want to have to deal with any emotional stress that was bound to come from a talk with Kit.

"I won't take long." She urged Daisy closer, Ty letting her come. When she understood that he was going to, reluctantly, let her talk, she jumped into it before he changed his mind. "Why are you avoiding me?"

Ty didn't even insult her by denying it; they both knew it was true. Instead, he sighed quietly. "It's… complicated."

"So uncomplicated it." She frowned. "Because I don't understand what is going on with you – with us. I tried to be patient and wait for you to want to talk. I thought 'Hey, he's been through a lot this year and needs some space and some time to regroup. He'll come around when he's ready.' But you never did. And now I have no idea where we stand. And I need to know if there is even still a 'we' or if I've been wasting my time trying to be supportive and waiting for you." She paused, expecting some sort of answer, but what Ty gave her was not what she was looking for.

"I don't know."

"…You don't know? That's not an answer." Kit became more animated, obviously flustered and fed-up. "You need to give me something, Ty! I feel like I'm trying to hold onto a fist full of water and it's all just leaking through my fingers no matter how tightly I squeeze. I miss you. I miss us. But I can't keep doing this because it's tearing me apart. I need to know I'm not alone in this."

Ty couldn't see her face well in the quickly falling darkness and he was glad for it. Her voice was enough to kick him down. He could hear the struggle in her words to keep them from shaking and he really wished he could think of something to say to her that would make this whole situation better. But he couldn't. He had nothing.

Kit was gaping at his silence, waiting for him to say something – anything. "You really have nothing to say to me?"

"You're right: a lot has happened this year and on top of all of that, my grandfather brought this girl to live with us for God knows how long. I'm still trying to deal with that and I just really don't know right now, Kit. I don't know what you want me to say." Ty hated to be pressured and especially couldn't stand relationship drama. It was the whole reason he was hesitant to even date Kit to start with, but she was persistent and he had to admit that it had been cute and amusing at first. Now he just found her persistence to be overwhelming and frustrating.

Kit was quiet, no longer sure if she preferred Ty's response to his silence. "I think you just said enough," she answered tightly, pulling Daisy back and heading away from Heartland ranch toward her own, with no intentions of coming back to help finish the branding tomorrow.

Ty watched her go, still just as confused about them as before. Only now he actually felt the guilt he'd been ignoring settle in. He wished he could have an answer for her, something to set them in one direction or another. He did enjoy spending time with Kit. They had a lot of fun together and some very good memories. But spending that time in jail, his grandfather's heart attack, and the aftermath of them both just left him rethinking his priorities. He was still trying to figure that out before factoring in his relationship with Kit. Then, the Fleming girl shows up and further complicates matters considering no one had any idea how long she was going to be staying and how she was going to fit into their life. That really should have nothing to do with him and Kit, but somehow he had the feeling it would end up being an issue at some point. Especially considering what happened that morning with the phone call and whatever Jack may have said to her in town. Which reminded him that he needed to get back to the ranch, but even then Ty knew his appearance would be fleeting.

* * *

**A/N:** I deeply apologize for the extensive wait between chapters. I hit a creative wall and turned away for some time before climbing it. As a gift for your patience, here is an extra long chapter. Originally, it was half the length minus the scene between Ty and Kit. I decided to add it for some meat. It felt uneventful and lacking otherwise. Also, in reply to any impending comments about the continuation and completion of this story based on reader assumption that I have "lost interest" or what have you due to the long wait for any new chapter: unless I state otherwise, all unfinished stories will be completed - in their own time. My muse and free time need to coincide to establish the "flow" a writer needs to write. When they do it's progressive and magical. When they don't, well, it's frustrating as shit. Also, I have other duties and responsibilities to attend to that rank above writing fanfiction. Again, if I discover a loss of interest or inability to finish any of my stories, current and future, I will be sure to let you know. Don't waste a review bugging me about it, mkay? And for those who think "well you should be flattered we bug you, it means we're interested and want more" you're right, I am flattered and grateful for your continued support. But I also see such things as whiny and like you have nothing better to do than sit at home and read second-rate fanfiction (no comments on my self-deprecation either, I am proud of what I write but I know there are stories and writers out there better than mine and myself) when you could be reading a first rate novel or watching the real thing or getting outside to breathe fresh air. Anyway, just trying to be proactive here to save myself from some *facepalm* and *headdesk* moments. I do that enough times a day at work.


	14. Chapter 14

The van was running, headlights ablaze, when the exhausted cowboys and inmates reached the stable yard. Corrections officers emerged from inside to wait for their charges to untack their mounts and turn them out where flakes of fresh hay awaited them. The men took their time to care for their horses, ignoring the impatient stares of the officers while they brushed them down and checked for any cuts or injuries that may have occurred and gone unnoticed.

The men were buzzing about the events of the day, oddly recharged once they were back on the ground and focused on putting the animals to bed, so to speak. A few of them were even smiling, though if pointed out would be sure to erase it and continue on then disgruntled. They tried to maintain their tough exterior even when thoroughly enjoying something. It was a common trait that the people who spent enough time with them soon deciphered. The officers even stood back shaking their heads as they began to congregate in front of the bus to prepare for the journey back to the prison. Those smiles didn't last much longer once roll began being taken as one by one they loaded onto the bus for another dank and dreary night behind bars. For many those nights seemed endless.

Ty was last to arrive back at the ranch, having taken his time in hopes that he would have the barn to himself. Of course he couldn't be so lucky and instead hoped he could go about his business without anyone trying to make it their own.

"Hey, Ty, hey!" Brett waved out of the bus window. "Hope your ego isn't too bruised after that girl of yours showed you up today out there."

"Mine's not, if yours isn't. How's that bus seat treatin' ya?" Ty quipped, though could still see the smirk on Brett's face as he let his arm hang limp against the side of the vehicle.

"About as good as your pride, Romeo." Brett tapped his hand on the metal before pulling it back inside and leaving Ty to walk Harley to his stall. It was times like that that made Ty wish they could go back to the old days of being strictly an equine rescue facility, before his grandfather decided to take on the task of bettering humanity. At least then it was easy to find a moment to yourself despite being trapped on 600 acres in the middle of nowhere. One wouldn't think it would be so difficult, but would be surprised to discover the contrary.

Jack was bent down in the stall next to the one Ty entered, unwrapping Paint's legs, running his hand along the tendons to check for heat or swelling. His equine partner was getting up in age and more susceptible to injuries so Jack took great care in looking after him. Some would say more than himself, and they would be right. But any true horseman cared for his horse before himself, it was just the way of life where he grew up.

"Couple of the guys noticed you were off your game today," Jack commented casually.

Ty busied himself pulling off Harley's bridle to replace it with his halter. "Yeah? I could say the same for most of them." Which wouldn't exactly be a fair assessment considering the majority got up close and personal with a cow for the first time that afternoon.

"Look, I didn't invite Kit to purposely piss you off. She approached me offering to help. I knew if I said no she'd know it was because of you. Truth be told I think it was the only way she could find an excuse to come over." Jack left the stall to toss the wraps in a grooming kit.

"It's not like our gates are locked," Ty mumbled, pulling off his saddle and walking it out to throw on a rack. Jack stood outside Harley's open door, pushing it closed so the horse didn't decide to stroll back out.

"I'm sure she knows that. What she doesn't know is how to approach you. Neither do I anymore, for that matter."

"So you're saying this is my fault." Immediately Ty got all up in arms, causing Jack to just sigh and pull off his work gloves.

"No." The exhaustion began to creep into his voice. Ever since Ty came back from jail there was this perpetual tension between him and the universe. It didn't matter who it was, the moment they opened their mouth he was ready to go rounds. "But you guys have been circling each other for months without getting any closer. At some point you need to talk, really talk. It's bothering you just as much as it is her or else you wouldn't be so defensive any time anyone mentions Kit."

Ty remained next to the saddle rack, resting his hand on the horn. Once again he resented the fact that Jack was right. He knew all of this and realized the train wreck he made of his relationship with Kit. He hated when people pointed it out to him. "Well, it's not anyone else's business." He really didn't want to get into it with Jack, again. When this all started it was worse, but after Kit stopped calling every day and randomly showing up at Heartland, Jack began to back off too. But it was just recently that Kit began nosing her way back around and the first time in months she set foot on the property. So it was all being jumpstarted again, leaving Ty in the difficult and unwanted position of needing to face it before it boiled over completely. He was aware of it happening eventually. He couldn't just avoid Kit forever and act like they never happened, but he was okay with trying for as long as possible – as immature as that did sound.

Jack was just as tired of the whole thing. He felt terrible that his grandson was treating Kit so poorly when the girl was nothing but supportive. Then again, Ty dealt with a lot over the last couple of years. Reintegrating with society after all the turmoil he faced couldn't be easy, especially not when a bus load of inmates arrived every day to remind him of his mistakes. So he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I promise this is my last time bringing it up. So, in closing, all I'm going to say is you're a damn fool." Jack headed out of the barn to see off the rest of the inmates, pausing just inside the door. "Oh, and remember what I said about the sleeping in the loft tonight." He pointed toward the old dusty stairs.

Ty's mouth hardened into a thin line as he stared at his grandfather but didn't bother to retaliate. He didn't feel like having another argument that night, especially not about the girl in the house. He was having enough women problems without adding that one to them. Unfortunately, that too was a pretty unavoidable conflict unless he took Jack's option to move out to the loft, effectively surrendering his own home to a completely selfish stranger. Ty scoffed at the thought as he walked back to Harley's stall.

Lending his signature to a form one of the prison guards handed him, Jack then stood back to wave the van off before turning to head back to the house. For the time being he was going to leave Ty to simmer on his own, which seemed like something he needed to do. Plus, he was starving. Walking up to the porch, he pulled open the screen door but upon trying to get into the house came to find the door was locked.  
"What the…" He leaned down to peer into the window, looking for signs of Amy, whom he assumed was inside somewhere. "Hello?" He knocked on the window.

Amy jumped awake from the doze she'd fallen in against the wall of her room. She was on the floor sorting her clothes, Lobo sprawled on his side beside her. "Oh my God, what time is it?" She panicked, pushing a pile of socks from her lap to get up as Jack hammered on the door again.

She looked down at the dog, reaching for his collar to urge him up. "Shit. Shit, shit, shit." She meant to put him outside before anyone arrived back.

"Come on, buddy." Shuffling down the hall she paused in the dining room, peering toward the kitchen to see if Jack could see them through the windows. She eyed the side door across the living room, wondering if they could make it there without being spotted. It was either that or dropping the dog from a window, which wasn't even an option giving the weight and assumed age of the animal. "Okay, Lobo, be quiet and stay low." Crouching down, Amy held the dog close as she guided him behind the table, trying to stay below it as they passed by the doorway to the kitchen to the other end of the house. "Good boy," she whispered, quietly opening the door and giving him a push out.

As soon as she stood to rush to open the door for Jack, he appeared in front of her, making her jump back. She had no idea if her startled expression hid her guilt for having Lobo in the house when she was specifically told he was to remain outside, but could only hope it did.

Jack looked at Amy with suspicion, then over her shoulder. If she was Ty he'd assume there was a guy sneaking out a window somewhere, but given what he knew about Amy, very much doubted that to be the case. "Why was the door locked?"

Amy swallowed. "I didn't feel comfortable staying here alone with it unlocked." Yet, she was now realizing that she left the side door completely vulnerable to intrusion if anyone so desired. "I meant to unlock it when you guys came back but… I kind of nodded off and forgot," she admitted lamely.

"And to… let the dog out too, I assume." Jack pointed down to Lobo who was still lingering on the porch.

Amy was quiet. Caught red-handed she wasn't sure how to fabricate a lie without Jack seeing right through it if he saw the dog come out of the house. "I was just… um," she fumbled, mentally kicking herself for not being quicker, but she had nothing.

"The dog stays outside," Jack reiterated, walking into the house and shutting the door behind him. Amy stepped back, her gaze falling to Lobo sadly as the door was shut on him.

"But, why?" She couldn't help herself. "He's not destructive. He's house trained. He does stink a little but that's nothing a proper bath can't fix and he doesn't have fleas." Despite openly admitting she just had the dog in the house all day, Amy wanted to know what the big deal was. Ty explained he was a farm dog, but Amy didn't see how when he was too old to do much of anything but lay around on the porch. That was all she saw him do since she'd been there.

Jack headed for the kitchen, opening the cabinet for a pot that he began to fill with water. "That's just how things are around here. We don't allow animals in the house. Never have."

Amy stood in the doorway, biting her lip. That wasn't really an answer but she thought better of debating it. If she was going to make a real attempt at trying to find her place at Heartland, she figured following "house rules" was a start. "Okay. Sorry."

She lasted all of ten seconds before opening her mouth again. "I just feel like he'd do much better if he was allowed inside. He's got such a thick coat this heat can't be good for him and it looks like he's got arthritis. It doesn't seem fair the poor old guy is banished outside," she blurted.

Jack set the pot on the stove and turned on the burner before turning to look at Amy. "He's spent his entire life outside. He'll be fine. And given we don't have air conditioning he's probably better off out there anyway. Gets kind of stuffy in here during the summer." If she lasted that long she'd find out soon enough. Even so, learning that new bit of information already had her mind reeling.

"No air conditioning?" And she was just beginning to accept her house arrest. "Not even one to put in the window?" She wasn't expecting them to have climate control central air, but come on, everyone had an air conditioner.

"Nope. Got a couple of fans we can pull out, but usually we just open the windows and take cold showers." Jack said matter-of-factly. It worked well enough for them this long, why change it.

Amy was certain her face gave away her appalled thoughts. She was a girl. While she grew up in a world of tough love, there were just some things she had to put her foot down for. Things a girl needed to feel like a lady. Cold showers weren't one of them.

"Anyway, unless you're planning on staying for the long haul you won't have to worry about it, right? You'll be outta here before the crickets start chirping."

Amy stepped up to lean in the doorway. Her head bowed as she toyed with her fingers. "Not necessarily," she murmured, causing Jack to turn around.

"No? Wasn't a few hours ago you were ready to hitchhike to Anywhere But Here."

Amy shrugged, not replying. She had the impression Jack would have been more surprised if she really did leave instead of stay around.

"What changed your mind?"

"Nothing. I haven't completely decided yet. I have a few phone calls to make first," she shrugged. More like one, and she had no idea how she expected it to go, but could only guess not well.

"I see. And these phone calls… Why did you wait until now to make them? Why not when your father gave you the ultimatum?" Jack sensed a lie. Or something like Amy was trying to hold onto what little pride and control she had left.

"Circumstances change."

"How so?"

Amy pressed her lips together trying not to make a show biting her tongue. "When I make a decision I'll let you know. I said I would stay until Monday so let's just leave it at that for now, okay?" She hated the idea of admitting defeat so easily.. She lost the battle by climbing on that bus out of Vancouver, but refused to lose the war without putting up more of a fight.

Jack raised his brow Amy's way. Whatever conversation they just try to have when's around in a complete circle. Despite getting nowhere, he realized that while Amy didn't want to be at Heartland, she had no idea where else to go but desperately wished she could come up with a viable option before she had to do what she dreaded and admit that Heartland was it. He would give her the time she needed to reach the terms of acceptance, but would keep her busy while she did.

"Well, until then, you still need to help out around here." Opening the fridge Jack pulled out an armload of vegetables and placed them on the table. "There's a knife and cutting board in the dish rack."

Amy sighed, but refrained from arguing as she stepped into the kitchen to contribute to their evening meal. Truth be told she liked having something to keep her occupied so she didn't go stir crazy inside of her own head.


	15. Chapter 15

After checking the horses, Ty shut off the interior barn light and headed for the farm house. As he came up the walk he could see the girl and his grandfather together in the kitchen. Already his jaw began to lock. Who the hell did she think she was? She didn't even want to be there and yet was completely taking over. He'd bet she had Jack wrapped around her big city finger being the bleeding heart that the old man was. Ty knew his grandfather was a tough son of a bitch, smart as a whip, and could see the truth in everyone, but even he had his weaknesses and Ty was almost certain Amy was becoming one of them. Why else would he be going to such great lengths to convince her to stay? It irritated the heck out of him. Being that he was already in a foul mood, Ty had half a mind to skip out on dinner and have a night out on the town. Actually, as he stood there scowling into the house, realized that sounded pretty good. He needed a change of scenery and time alone. The only problem was his truck keys were lying in the ceramic bowl that sat in the kitchen.

After a moment, Ty heaved a sigh and headed for the door, appalled when he realized it was locked! Were they kidding?!

"Hey!" He pounded on the door with an annoyed fist.

Amy jumped, causing the knife she held to slip and slice her hand. "Ah!" She gasped from the sting, dropping the blade onto the counter.

"Jesus priest," Jack mumbled, having been startled himself. He went to unlock the door. "You break that door it's coming out of your pay."

"That would mean you'd have to start paying me. And why the hell was it even locked?!" They never locked the door. Ever. He wasn't even certain they had keys for the locks on the house. They lived in the middle of nowhere and all around them were lifelong neighbors and friends. There was no need to lock the door. Maybe from the inmates that wandered the property, but they had no reason to go near the house and there really wasn't anything worth stealing anyway unless they wanted to hock some archaic appliances.

Amy stretched her wounded hand beneath the faucet. "Maybe you have no problem being alone with a bunch of criminals, but I do." A small ribbon of blood flowed along the basin.

Ty's gaze shifted in her direction. "You shouldn't. I'm betting they'd pay a pretty penny for even the smallest service," he said coolly, fully aware of his grandfather's warning.

Amy shot him a nasty glare. "Why don't you come here and I'll show you how I like to play," she snapped, reaching for the sharp knife she was using.

Ty smirked. "Oh, momma's got venom." He did not forget her reaction from this morning when she struck him pretty hard across the face for calling her a whore and did not underestimate her threat with the knife, despite Jack blatantly sliding between them. "I'll have to rain check. I've got plans." He turned his back on them and went to swipe his keys from the bowl before he was faced with yet another lecture.

"What plans?" Jack asked, momentarily distracted from once again reprimanding his grandson for being an asshole, for lack of a nicer term.

"Nothing to concern yourself with, Jack. I'll be sure not to break curfew." Ty's voice dripped with such sarcasm you'd think he was pubescent, but fact of the matter was before his probationary period was lifted after he was out of jail, he did have a court-ordered curfew. The local cops still ragged on him about it even though it was no longer in effect. Now it made for a good laugh, but at the time Ty spent more than a few nights being followed home.

He left without another word to either of them, but the way his eyes settled on each of them in turn as he made for the door spoke volumes.

Jack and Amy were both quiet a moment, listening to Ty leave, before Jack turned to Amy who was still holding onto the knife. "You can put that down now. Let me see your hand."

Amy let go of the knife, Jack taking it and moving it out of her reach. She watched him as she offered her injured hand. "I wasn't really going to use it," she defended herself, looking at the superficial wound. Cleaned up it didn't look as bad as it initially felt. "Maybe this morning I would have…" she added under her breath, but with Jack being right in front of her he still heard.

"Well, I can't disagree that this morning he probably deserved it, but," Jack let go of her hand. The cut wasn't deep and would close up better in the open air, so he didn't bother for the first aid kit. "I think you were right about Kit coming over," Jack admitted, remembering Amy's apprehension from earlier.

Amy's eyes widened. This was news to her. "So she did drop by." Being confined to the ranch house did have its disadvantages. She'd have liked to bear witness to that confrontation seeing as how each reacted at the mention of the other when alone. "I suppose that's the reason for this particular brand of attitude," she guessed, her eyes drifting toward the driveway where Ty had left. Amy could only imagine what kind of guy Ty could be if he would man up and rectify whatever mistakes he made with Kit, or vice versa. She really didn't know the background of it all but enough to understand his relationship with Kit was the root of a lot of personal demons.

"I'd reckon so, even though they barely spoke a word to each other all day." Jack took the bowl of cut vegetables and dumped it in a pot. He didn't mention the fact that Ty had come back to the ranch sometime after everyone else and seemed in an even worse mood than he was throughout the day. Talking to Amy about Kit at all was probably going to come back to bite him in the ass, but he only did it this time so she didn't take what he said to heart. It was just a defense mechanism. One that he shared with Amy, though Jack was sure both would deny it.

"So, do you know the whole story with them?" Amy asked, perhaps a little intrusively, as she slid into a chair at the table in front of Jack.

The older man scraped the vegetables from the bowl, glancing at Amy over the top of it. "Not sure it's my place to be spreading gossip that could get me into trouble." He and Ty were butting heads enough lately with Amy's arrival, throwing Kit into the mix only exacerbated the issue. They had their ups and downs over the years since Jack pretty much took over raising Ty himself, but they managed to find a common respect for one another and while they didn't always show outward affection toward each other, that familial bond and protectiveness was still there.

Amy sat back in the chair, withdrawing her inquiry. "Right. I guess I shouldn't turn into a hypocrite." She didn't want people prying into her personal life, so it was only fair she left Ty's well enough alone unless she was ready and willing to spill her own secrets. And she wasn't. Not in the slightest.

Jack chuckled to himself, turning around to the stove to continue cooking. "I don't doubt you're just as curious about him as he is about you. You are both too much alike to keep going at it like you are."

Amy scoffed, reaching to pull a slice of cucumber from the bowl. "You keep saying that and yet I still think you're full of it." She didn't see it. Ty couldn't even talk to her like a normal person without it ending in a degrading insult and Amy seeing red. It was pretty clear he thought she was the worst kind of teenage slut, getting pregnant and not even knowing who the father was. But she did know, she just preferred not to and thus didn't bother complicating it for others. She was having a baby out of wedlock and if people wanted to look down their nose at her than that was their business. It was the twenty-first century and lesser things have happened.

"Well, if you could stand to be around each other for more than a few minutes and try to have a conversation I'll bet you would see differently." If they kept this up much longer Jack knew he was going to resort to drastic measures. If it turned out Amy did decide to stay for the long haul, there was no way this tension was going to last. He hoped they could break the barrier before Lisa came back from Europe in a couple weeks, not wanting her to see what kind of turmoil her house fell into in her absence because she would not be as sensitive as Jack and would force the two young'ins into a room until they came out on respectable terms or killed each other – whichever came first.

Amy munched on more cucumber slices, her legs swinging as she eyed Jack. "Like what kind of bet?" Growing up with a father who liked to gamble and hanging around his weekly poker games at the apartment, Amy could never back away from a good bet. It was almost like it was in her blood.

"Hm?"

Amy sat up straighter. "You said you'd bet I'd see Ty differently if we could have a real conversation. What's your wager?"

Jack was thrown a little by Amy's sudden interest. He'd only meant it as a figure of speech, but if she wanted to strike a deal then he'd play her game. "Okay. You have a conversation with Ty, a real conversation that doesn't end in a fight or someone getting slapped, you agree to stay here at least through the summer without complaint."

"And if we can't?" Amy prompted.

"If you can't…" Jack thought a moment. "I'll call your father personally and see to it that he accepts you back home – if you still want to leave."

Amy took a minute to contemplate her options. She wasn't even sure Jack had the ability to persuade her father to rescind his decision – not after the conversation they had this morning that left her devastated and in tears. She still believed it was all an act, but that didn't mean a phone call from Jack would make him drop it and take her back. There were factors at play Jack didn't know about leaving Tim firm in his decision to send her away. On the other hand, maybe because Jack had a history with her father she knew nothing about, his influence was more profound than she knew. It was Jack that Tim entrusted his troubled daughter to after all.

Sliding from her chair, Amy stepped up in front of Jack and offered her hand, looked him squarely in the eye and said, "Deal." Then prayed harder than a holy high roller that she had the ability to keep her hormonal temper in check the next time she ran into the young Mr. Borden.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** This chapter didn't feel up to par but it's really just a bridge/filler chapter so bear with it, friends. Enjoy.


	16. Chapter 16

Ty took his good old time making the trek into town. One of the great things about living where he did was the vast expanse of long, open, road. It was easy to let the mind zone out and explore, especially that time of night when there was no traffic at all. During the day it was still sparse, but you'd most likely encounter a neighbor and occasional wandering (sometimes lost) tourist. Unlike every other time he made the journey, his radio wasn't blaring, but tuned to a low murmur. One hand on the wheel, the other resting on the open window while he stared out at the glow of the headlights guiding him. He managed to calm down after a couple miles of solitude, but replaying the events up to his hasty departure from Heartland, Ty began to shake his head. He didn't feel like the same person he'd been back there, like that was Hyde and this was Jekyll trying to separate the two halves and make sense of who he became.

He was never thrilled or even 100 percent okay with Amy coming to Heartland after realizing the baggage she was bringing with her, but he'd just accepted it and decided to roll with the tide. People came and went through their inmate program all of the time, it wasn't like he wasn't accustomed to getting to know strangers, but this was a whole new level he hadn't had to deal with since Jack started dating his now wife – Ty's step-grandmother – Lisa, and that was at a time when he was at his worst on his way to doing hard time. It took a long time for him to warm up to her. Even now, several years later, there were still times he was bitter toward her despite her bringing nothing but happiness to his grandfather's life and, more importantly, someone to be there to take care of him. If for nothing else, Ty appreciated her for that much.

But Amy; her he had no idea how to accept. Was she a permanent fixture that he would eventually have to force himself to warm to? Or simply someone passing through? She sounded pretty adamant about leaving, so Ty didn't see the point of trying to be friendly if he wasn't ever going to see her again in a few days. On the other hand, if their situation turned out to be more long term, he supposed it would make life a lot less stressful to suck it up and play nice. Who knew, maybe they'd even grow to like each other. However, the want for amicability was a two-way street and Ty had no interest in trying to make peace with someone who couldn't be bothered to do the same. Any time they faced each other it turned into a standoff with both vying for their right to have the last word.

Ty didn't know what it was exactly about Amy that rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe it was the fact that they both grew up in such a way that taught them the need to stick up for themselves and never back down. They were just two opposing forces – like the same end of a magnet. Or it was just the fact that she didn't seem capable of minding her own business. Granted, she had no idea the situation with him and Kit and Ty was now admitting to himself that he hadn't exactly been fair about that. It was his own stupid fault he even had a reason to react so severely over his girlfriend… ex-girlfriend… He didn't even know what they were anymore. Not what they used to be, that was for certain. But a lot of things weren't what they used to be since Ty got out of prison.

The one thing he could always count on, though, was the late night crowd at the local bar, K.O.'s. Amy wasn't wrong when she stereotyped small towns shutting down by nine o'clock. Hudson was just the same, but there was one place for night owls to flock until the 2 a.m. last call. Ty pulled into the lot behind the bar, finding a quick place to park on that week night. He was able to assess that night's patrons by giving their vehicles a quick scan and was surprised, but also happy to see his best friend's maroon pick up on the end.

"Caleb." Ty slapped the young cowboy on the back of the shoulder as he came up behind him at the bar, sliding into the next empty stool.

"Ty. Hey, man. How's it goin'?" Caleb smiled after sipping his beer.

Ty shrugged, flagging down the bartender and ordering one for himself. "You hear about the new girl at my place?" He'd be surprised if he hadn't. Damn near the whole province would by now.

"I caught wind of a rumor, yeah. What's the story with her?"

Ty leaned on the bar. "I don't know, man. She's still a mystery. We haven't exactly found good terms yet and I'm wondering if maybe she prefers it that way."

"What do you mean?"

"I just get the feeling she's hiding something – something serious. Any time you try to ask her anything she comes out with attitude or ignores it completely."

"Well, maybe it's the way you're asking," Caleb reasoned. "You aren't exactly the most tactful person, Ty."

Ty was quiet for a moment while he received his beer, knowing Caleb was right but not necessarily wanting to admit it. "I did kind of attack her earlier." Except this was his best friend and if he needed to be straight with anyone it was Caleb.

"See?"

"Okay, but all she's done since she arrived is bitch and moan about being here. We're trying to help her and she just…" Ty had to stop before he went on a tangent that ended in him yelling about how much of an ungrateful snot Amy was.

"Wait, she didn't come on her own?" That was something Caleb wasn't aware of. It seemed the most people knew was just that Heartland had a new female resident, emphasis on the female.

Ty shook his head. "Apparently, her dad needed to dump her some place and Jack can't resist a charity case."

"Do you know why?"

"Why what?"

"Why her dad needed to dump her on you?"

"That's what I don't know. I'm guessing it has something to do with her being pregnant but-"

Caleb cut him off. "She's pregnant?"

"Yeah."

"And they sent her to Heartland?"

Ty understood Caleb's confusion. "That's what I said! It doesn't make any sense. She's not a delinquent kid unless we're putting having a child out of wedlock under that category now. I tried asking who the father was and all she can say is he's out of the picture and it's none of my business."

"Well, there you go."

"What?"

"The big mystery." Caleb replied as if it was obvious.

"I know. That's kind of what I attacked her about." Thinking back Ty had to cringe at his own unfair judgment. "I accused her of being a working girl."

Caleb's beer stopped midway to his mouth. "You called her a hooker?" Even he couldn't believe Ty could do such a thing.

"A call girl, actually." As if that was any better.

"Dude." Caleb almost pitied him for going right for the knees with that one. "No wonder she hates you."

"To be fair, I'm pretty sure she didn't like me even before that." She made it clear from the moment he picked her up that she wanted nothing to do with the town or anyone associated with it.

"Yeah, but, at least then it could have gone either way. Now… well, if she's here for the long haul you'd better pray she's not the vindictive sort or you'd better be sleeping with one eye open." Caleb raised his brow.

"I'm already sleeping in the loft," Ty mumbled bitterly.

"She take your room or something?"

"Jack," Ty answered simply, looking at Caleb who needed to further explanation.

"Jack kicked you out of your own house? That doesn't seem fair. What for?"

"For not bending over backwards to make this girl happy, it feels like. But it's not just me stirring the pot. This whole thing has turned into a mess and it's only been two days since she's been here. Everything was fine until she got here, now Kit is all up on me again too…"

"Oh yeah, I heard all about _that_." Caleb turned his beer slowly between his fingers, Ty stopping to look at him questioningly. "She called me to rant a little… about you. And… Amy," he elaborated.

"What do you mean me _and _Amy?" Oh, great, just when he was trying to rationalize the whole situation.

"She thinks Amy is the reason you've been blowing her off. I can see now she may have gotten her signals a little crossed." Caleb spoke as nonchalantly as possible, not wanting to get Ty any more worked up than he already was.

Ty sat in a slow simmering silence for a moment. "What did she say, exactly?"

Caleb took a second to recall the slightly uncomfortable conversation he had with his friend, not much unlike the one he was now having with Ty. "She just thought you purposely didn't tell her about Amy because you didn't want to deal with the consequences… basically." He shifted uncomfortably on the stool.

"You mean she thought I was too chicken shit to come out and tell her I'd moved on with another girl," Ty translated in irritated disbelief. He didn't even know Amy. Even if he did, he had enough drama in his life without needing to add hers on top of it. What he wanted was simple and at the moment not even a relationship with Kit could be simple. Maybe he was better off just being on his own for a while.

Caleb lifted a shoulder. "Honestly, Ty? You can't blame her for that. Even before Amy got here you've been distant."

"I don't blame her. It's Amy who spoke to her when she called the ranch this morning. She was with Jack in town earlier when they ran into Kit. I didn't even have a chance to explain the situation before it blew out of proportion." Ty bristled and Caleb eyed his friend cautiously.

"You really don't like this girl, do you?"

"She doesn't make it hard," Ty replied.

"Can I say something without you biting my head off?" Caleb asked, pushing his beer back to rest his arm on the counter. Ty looked him, inviting him to speak up. "I think you're making Amy into your scapegoat."

Ty made a face. "Scapegoat for what?"

"Your problems with Kit."

"So you're trying to tell me that I'm trying to blame Amy for stirring up trouble with Kit that could have been avoided had she just minded her own business?"

"I'm saying that you and Kit have been having problems for a long time now, long before Amy even came into the picture. You've just both been avoiding them. Now that Amy arrived, things have opened up again and because you don't want to deal with them you're trying to use Amy as an excuse. I don't necessarily think the two are related all that much, just coincidental. Whether Amy was there or not, Kit still would have made attempts to contact you again." Caleb tried to reason. Though he didn't know Amy, he could still feel a little bad that Ty was ragging so hard on her over things she had no control over. It just so happened she didn't arrive at the greatest time in Ty's love life and was paying for it.

"Maybe you're right, but if Jack hadn't been in town with Amy this morning they never would have run into Kit and the shit show that followed at the branding never would have happened."

"You were just blindsided, man. You weren't prepared to deal with a talk on the fly like that." Caleb sympathized.

"That's the point! I wasn't ready to be confronted like that. I wasn't ready to talk it out because I had no idea what I needed to say, or what she wanted to hear. I stuck my foot so far down my throat I'm still choking on it." Ty reached out to take a long swallow of his beer as if to dislodge said foot.

"And back to my point of you making Amy your scapegoat."

Ty gave Caleb a hard, displeased, look over his glass. He felt like this was the same argument he'd been having with Jack yet, somehow, Caleb seemed more capable of getting Ty to understand where he was at fault. Or to take a step back and look at it from a more reasonable perspective, rather than immediately jump to his own defense. "Well, if she gets her way she won't be here much longer so, good riddance if that's the case."

"Still, I don't think Amy leaving will magically fix things with Kit." Their situation really wasn't about her anyway, but it was just a single plausible theory Kit latched onto to explain Ty's behavior since he couldn't seem to tell her himself what was up.

"No, but it'll sure make me feel better to have one less person to keep an eye on."

"Two," Caleb corrected.

"What?"

"If she's pregnant then, technically, that's two people."

Ty rolled his eyes. "Don't even go there, man."

"I'm just saying… you have to consider the baby in all of this too."

"Why? You can't even tell it's there, except this morning when she upchucked at the smell of coffee." Ty still grimaced at the memory.

"Come on, man. You never been awed by the miracle of life before?"

"Not really. Especially not when it's been causing so much upheaval."

"Aw, you can't blame an innocent child for this. It's just a byproduct of what I can only guess weren't the greatest life choices. It's going to have to grow up living in the shadow of all of this. I bet that's something Amy's dad, and Jack for that matter, thought about when making the deal they did. Amy too, in letting herself be pawned off like you said. She agreed to come despite not wanting to, right? If you ask me, there's a lot more to it."

"Oh, I know there is. It's just a matter of how much of it we get the privilege of knowing. I'm surprised we were even told as much as we were since we still know next to nothing. I'm waiting for this crack head to come busting down our door looking for the money she owes him or something." Ty really believed whoever the father of Amy's child was wasn't a very stand up guy.

"If that's the case, then she probably is better off with you and Jack than anywhere else. That man is a damn good shot."

"It's just the fact that if he is someone like that, then she just put us all in danger and we don't even know it. At least if we knew the truth, we could take the extra precautions. But I think her dignity is what's withholding it." They willingly brought criminals to their home every day, but at least they were aware of their crimes and knew who was coming over.

"Yeah. I can agree with you there. I guess if she's leaving, though, you won't have to worry about it for much longer."

"We'll see what happens. I think she's more talk than anything, but," Ty shrugged, exhausting himself of the Amy topic. "How are things at the rodeo grounds for you?" Since taking his leave from Heartland, Caleb went into business for himself, buying and selling rough stock for rodeos.

"Not bad, business is starting to pick up now that the weather broke. I came across a few nice bucking horses in Grande Prairie I'm gonna take a look at next week."

"Alright, man, good for you. Good to hear things are working out for you." Ty was genuinely happy that Caleb was able to pick up again after he left Heartland in pretty rough shape. "How's the leg?"

Shifting on the stool Caleb stretched out his recently healed broken leg, flexing it gingerly. "Eh, not too bad anymore. Feel like a crippled old man when the weather gets bad, though. Thing's like a damn barometer now."

Ty chuckled. "You and Jack have that in common."

"Amy aside, how are you gettin' on over there? Have you found anyone yet?" Caleb asked more seriously. He knew that his leaving left them a man short, but he offered a list of names to Jack for his replacement.

"Naw. To be honest, I think my grandfather is still holding on to the hope of you deciding to come back." Caleb was notorious for slacking off when he knew he could get away with it and caused Jack more headache than he was worth, but in the end he was always there when needed and worked well with the inmates until the incident with Hank put him over the edge.

Caleb shook his head. "He knows where we stand. I'm doing fine where I'm at right now. Get him to hire someone before he gives himself another heart attack trying to do it all himself."

Ty didn't blame Caleb in the least for resigning after Jack permitted Hank back on the ranch, which seemed like a real slap in the face to Caleb. There didn't appear to be any bitter feelings between the two, but Caleb openly admitted that as long as Hank was still a part of the program, he wasn't.

"I'll try, but no promises." They all knew Jack wasn't going to hire some guy off the street. He needed to be tested and proven capable of dealing with the risk involved with this particular program. What happened between Caleb and Hank wasn't a common occurrence, but as the incident proved, it could happen. He didn't want a babysitter or someone too apprehensive to hold their own and finish things before they started. They needed tact, compassion, and balls of steel for the shit some of the guys tried to pull before they crossed that line of mutual respect. It was absolutely something earned, not automatically given. Not even Jack had that privilege when the program restarted with a whole new round of felons. It was starting from square one almost every time. Most of the guys who signed up for the program heard about it through those that had already done it, but their attitudes needed time to adjust to a whole new way of life.

"Maybe you can get that Amy girl to help out." Even as he said it, Caleb couldn't keep a straight face.

"Fat chance of that. Even if she wasn't pregnant. Jack's got her earning her keep around the house at least. Maybe I'll have some clean underwear now," Ty chuckled. He and Jack were pretty good about keeping up the house when Lisa wasn't home because they knew darn well that if they let it go she would come back and whip both their asses, but it was a lot of extra work neither one of them really felt like doing after they spent sun up to sun down keeping the ranch running. There were many a time when they'd sit down after dinner to relax and end up passing out in the living room from a long day.

"Well, like I warned you before, if she's got access to your clothes, you'd better be checking for itching powder in your boxers," Caleb warned, lifting his glass and tipping it in Ty's direction.

"Seriously?" Ty shook his head, amazed at some of the stuff that had a tendency of coming out of Caleb's mouth.

"I'm just saying. Either make amends or be looking over your shoulder."

"Yeah, and you would know all about that, wouldn't you?" Ty poked fun at him.

"Damn right. You remember that Katrina girl, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah, man! That was the chick that came at you with the crossbow, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was. Nearly lost a foot that night. You don't mess with crazy, my friend. Remember that." Caleb caught the bartender's attention and waved two fingers for him to bring them another round.

Ty laughed, shaking his head and finishing off his beer. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."


	17. Chapter 17

By the time Amy finished washing and putting away the dinner dishes, she had the layout of the kitchen almost down. Just like the night before, as soon as they finished eating Amy stared across the table from Jack. They had a silent conversation, or debate more like, that ended in Amy just rolling her eyes and getting up to take their plates to the sink and get started. She finally decided arguing about her role as a domestic servant wouldn't get her anywhere but right where she ended up so didn't even bother opening her mouth. Truth be told it wasn't washing dishes or doing housework that bothered her – she was used to doing it back home – it was the fact that it made her feel too settled, like she was falling into her place by doing what was normal for her in a strange environment. But it was as she stood at the sink drying the dishes in the quiet of the house with Jack catching up on the rest of his paper in the living room that she felt a longing she barely recognized. It made her heart ache and tears sting her eyes for a brief moment before she took a deep breath and sucked it up to scour the cabinets to properly put away the clean dishes.

Amy wandered into the living room when she was finished. "Okay, the dishes are done. I even wiped down the counter and table. Anything else?" For once there was no sarcasm as she spoke.

Jack glanced up at her over his paper from behind his glasses. "Well, I wouldn't mind a cup of tea if you're offering."

"I wasn't." Amy's brow began to crease into a frown. She was trying to be agreeable for once and Jack was toeing the line with his so called jokes.

"Alright. I just thought we could maybe sit and have a conversation." Jack shook out his paper, closing it to read the back.

Amy was skeptical; conversations with Jack turned into more than she was willing to talk about and usually resulted in her scrambling for an exit. "Can't we just watch TV or something?"

"Sure. But we only have maybe ten channels and most of them are probably the news at this hour." Jack really saw no reason for them to have a television at all, or cable really, since it was only on rare occasions that they were ever inside with the time to spend watching anything. When he tried he usually ended up falling asleep anyway and unnecessarily running up the cable bill. Besides, they already had a newspaper subscription to catch up on the news; which he barely had time to read as it was.

"Way to embrace the twenty-first century, Jack. No internet, air conditioning, or cable, and an outhouse. I'm surprised you even have electricity."

"Well, if I had the time to read my paper during the day then we probably wouldn't. Plus, my wife would most likely have found that a deal breaker." Lisa was the opposite of him in many ways, but they were the epitome of the adage "opposites attract." Still, she was more of a modern woman, being the one that dragged a reluctant Jack into the 21st century as she was the only person that could.

A smile lifted the corner of Amy's mouth as she walked toward the entertainment center that held the television along with a bunch of family photos. She began to look through them all. "Where is your wife?" Amy found a photo of Jack and who she assumed was Lisa on their wedding day. She looked several years his junior, but Amy wasn't one to judge. She was a pretty lady with a kind face. She heard the name mentioned several times over the last couple of days but aside from knowing she was Jack's second wife, had no idea who the woman was they were talking about.

"In France at the moment. She has a house in Toulon and some breeding investments she has to check on every so often. She should be back week after next." From Jack's nonchalant reply, Amy figured this was a common occurrence, but asked about it anyway.

"Does she travel a lot?" Amy asked, shifting a frame aside to peer at one behind it.

"Couple times a year. Usually around foaling season."

"Do you ever go with her?" Even as she asked, Amy was pretty sure she could have answered her own question seeing as how Jack was still there at Heartland while his wife was half a world away.

"Nah. That's her thing. I'm not much of a traveler." In their dating years, she convinced him to come along with her overseas, claiming she wanted his "expert" advice on some broodmares she was thinking of investing in. But their time spent with the breeder and at auctions made up only a miniscule fraction of the trip. It didn't take Jack long to feel very out of place and homesick. He lasted only a couple of weeks out of their summer before returning back to Alberta, alone. The great thing about Lisa, and why they ultimately did marry, was her understanding of his ways. While she didn't always agree with them and would show her disappointment or frustration, she just backed off and let him go. Until he cooled down and she went for round two, anyway. Her persistence could get to him at times, but he loved her for it.

Amy glanced over her shoulder with a small smile. "No, Jack, really?" She was teasing of course; absolutely able to believe Jack was the definition of a homebody. Plus, she couldn't see how he'd have the time to travel while running the sort of program he did at Heartland. From the way he talked so easily about it, it was obvious that Jack and Lisa had long ago figured out their place in each other's life. It was always a hard thing to do in a second marriage, especially later in life when a person was already established in their ways and habits. Amy wondered if Lisa's traveling and Jack's obvious lack of interest in accompanying her ever caused arguments between them, but before she could press him further he was changing the subject abruptly from her slight dig.

"Are we going to have that tea, or not?" Jack shot a look from over the rim of his glasses, not having much interest in having fun poked at him once again over his pioneer ways.

"Sure." Amy stepped away from the photos and went back into the kitchen to boil water. She lingered at the stove, leaning on the counter while she waited. For the first time she took the opportunity to give the kitchen a thorough scrutiny and couldn't help but compare it to the one in her dad's apartment. There was clutter but it was of things normally found in a kitchen; unlike at home where it was nearly barren of anything except a microwave and few hard plastic dishes. All four burners of this stove worked whereas Amy used to have to cook using just one that constantly burned out. She'd been nosy while alone that afternoon and poked through the refrigerator to find it full, again, whereas at home they were lucky if they had milk. They ate PB&amp;J for a lot of meals, sometimes only the PB or J if Amy didn't have the time or energy to make an effort to cook or stop at the corner store. Her dad didn't seem to care much either way, though did show his appreciation when she did take the time to prepare a real meal for them. But with his drug habits being what they were he didn't often eat unless Amy made him because he was never hungry, or already full of liquor. There were times she wondered if she'd be better off letting him wither away, but she was too afraid of losing him after they lost her mother and just being utterly on her own. Looking back now, she didn't think it would have mattered either way. It was his drug habits that got her into this mess; thus, his haste to get her out of it best he could. Out of sight, out of mind, in her eyes.

The kettle began to whistle and Amy was glad for the distraction before she went to that place of resentment that brought out her anger. She managed to suppress it after a while in spite of what happened early that morning and would like not to be riled up while trying to sleep. Maybe a cup of hot tea would better help her rest. She even avoided putting sugar in hers just to be on the safe side, preparing Jack's how he specified and carrying both mugs back to the living room.

"How long have you lived on this ranch?" Amy continued her round of questioning as she handed Jack his tea then folded her leg beneath her on the couch.

Jack pulled his glasses off to place on the end table as he took the mug from Amy with a thank you, sitting up straighter. "We were one of the first families to settle this part of Alberta. It's been passed down from son to son for, oh, six generations now. Every one of us was born in this house, except for Ty."

Amy couldn't wrap her mind around the idea of being settled in one place for more than a couple years. Six generations of a single family on the same plot of land was mind-blowing. "It's always been a cattle ranch?"

"Yep. Until my daughter, Lily… well, she had a hard time dealing with Ty's father's accident and needed a way to hold herself together for him. She went to a clinic one day, some First Nations equine training seminar. I guess something shifted in her that day. She started researching and experimenting with his horse. Doc, was his name; he got beat up pretty bad too, but at least he was someone she could help. Ty's father, well, he wouldn't let her try to help him. He marked himself a lost cause and things just sort of fell apart from there." Jack seemed to go off into another world as he deviated from Amy's original question. She hadn't been expecting to hear so much about Ty's parents, ever, but she didn't interrupt Jack if he wanted to share their story with her. Maybe it would give her something to connect with Ty. If he was anything like her, mentioning his parents would be a sore spot, but listening to Jack made Amy see that she wasn't the only one left to deal with family tragedy.

Jack seemed to realize his tangent and smiled, stopping before it went any further. "Anyway, after she was able to help Doc, word got around like it does in these small towns and one thing led to another…" There was still pride in his voice as he discussed his daughter's success with a horse that most would have thought better off dead. But not only that, her ability to find a way to cope with losing her husband as well and moving on from the heartache left in his wake.

"What about the inmate program? Where does that come in?" Amy asked quietly, not wanting to push too much about Jack's daughter after she struck that particular nerve earlier when joking about the herbs and extracts set up in the barn office, though she was curious as to what happened to his father.

"Hm, pretty much the same way. Lily was asked to do a clinic at another ranch with the program. The guy running it was ready to retire, sell the land, and move some place warm in the States. Took a bit of convincing on my part, but I eventually gave in. Thought it would send this place to hell in a hand basket. Believed it for a while, too after a few incidents we had, until I saw what a place like this really does for those guys. It takes a long time, but it's just one of those things that's always worth it in the long haul. After Lily died, I could have let the contract run out, gone back to just raising cattle… But I couldn't do that to her memory. I couldn't do it to those guys. She worked too hard for me to just let it all go like that." Jack finished and took a long sip of tea while Amy chewed on her lip and just took in what all he told her. She was always aware of the passion and dedication the people of Heartland had to what they did. It was obvious in the way they defended every little dig she ever made at the place or the people there, but sitting on the couch that evening was the first time she ever let herself sympathize.

"You grew to love it," Amy observed, smiling over her mug. Jack might not have been totally on board with the idea at first, but had he not just told that to her now, she wouldn't have believed it to be true.

"They all do, eventually. All those guys who sign up just to break up the monotony – who don't really believe in it, or care - they try to hide it for as long as they can, but it grows on them too." It was actually almost unbelievable how impactful a program like Heartland's was on the inmates that completed it. Most of them showed obvious skepticism and even disdain when they first stepped off the bus and were given the rundown of what was what. Was shoveling horse shit and possibly risking serious injury really better than spending time lounging all day or working out in the gym? To many, yes; to others, not so much. It offered new challenges for them all and a way to work out their own issues while trying to earn the trust of an abused or wild animal that wasn't going to do what they wanted just because they wanted it to. Getting frustrated or angry would get them nowhere and they learned to work around their emotions to find a common ground with the horse to gain its trust.

"Is that how you know my dad? Through this program?" Amy hesitated to ask, but she was still in the dark about the connection between Jack Bartlett and Tim Fleming. The last phone conversation she had with her father did not end well and before she could ask him about that particular detail. She asked Jack before, but his answer was to ask her father, which didn't seem to be working out. Tim spent time in jail many years ago. He never talked about it, nor told her what he did to end up there. The only way she even knew was through hearing him mention it via casual conversation with his poker buddies – most of which related.

"For someone who doesn't seem to want to give answers of her own, you are certainly asking a lot of questions." Jack raised his brow. He wasn't annoyed with her sudden influx of questions. In fact, he was glad she began to open up a little more and at least show some small bit of interest even if it turned out she didn't stay long. He just thought if he told her everything she wanted to know, she'd be inclined to offer up a few confessions of her own as a sign of trust. Then again, whatever plagued her seemed to be a lot deeper than even she was willing to accept sometimes.

For a little while Amy poked her head out of her shell, but just as quickly she retracted it. Jack could see the instant change in her body language. She really wasn't much different from a skittish horse and just as he could sympathize with them, he could with her too. But just as with the horses, eventually something was going to give or she'd self destruct. Jack really didn't want to see that happen, but he also knew enough not to push too hard too soon. As soon as Amy looked away into her mug of tea, her fingers tightening on the handle, and her back straightening against the couch, he knew they were right at the line she'd drawn. Her questions ceased and the room went abruptly silent.

But for the first time she didn't just divert the conversation or walk away. "Questions are easier for me than answers right now." She absently traced the mug's rim with her thumb. "I'm just…" She sighed, lifting her eyes to the ceiling as she tried to gather the words. "I'm not comfortable talking about it. I'm not even comfortable thinking about it a lot of the time, but I just can't seem to stop." Her gaze lowered again, her head shaking slowly.

"Might help to talk to someone about it," Jack prompted gently, causing Amy to look slowly his way. He'd been saying that to her since she arrived and while she began to warm up to him, they weren't quite on that level yet. She didn't even know if that level existed anymore.

"Maybe. Except talking about it is what got me here in the first place." Aside from the subject being unsettling for her, Amy related it to her father pretty much abandoning her when she needed him most. He claimed that he was doing what was best for her, giving her what he couldn't (or didn't want to), but she just wanted him on her side. She wanted to be home where things were familiar, albeit probably just as stressful. She didn't want to feel like she did. It made her angry at the world, including herself for being so young and stupid. It made her feel so utterly alone and unloved, even though she kept trying to make herself believe that she was at Heartland out of love. But the scars just cut so deep all she could understand was the pain left behind.


	18. Chapter 18

Once again Amy managed to dodge the truth bullet for another night by excusing herself to go to bed. She was tired, but exaggerated it a bit for her Jack's benefit. He didn't look like he was too far behind her, though. Mornings seemed to come earlier and earlier the older he got. He tried his best to wait up for Ty in order to assess the potential damage caused after he stormed off earlier, but gave up after he was startled awake from the newspaper dropping from his lap. He'd just have to catch up with his grandson in the morning, only hoping he wouldn't be giving him a rude awakening with a bucket of ice water.

As with the night before, Amy had difficulty actually falling asleep. There were a myriad of reasons and it didn't matter which was most prominent that time because no matter what she couldn't seem to have a peaceful night anymore. She tossed and turned, tried every trick in the book short of medication, and that was only because of the baby, but nothing worked. Eventually she'd wear herself out and nod off, but it seemed to happen ever closer to morning. She slept better in the middle of the day than she did at night and it was starting to get frustrating and exhausting.

Heaving a sigh, Amy tore the thin sheet from her head when it got too stuffy, staring up at the small streak of light on the ceiling from the barn across the way. She was one sleepless night away from making a deal with the devil that if he let her have a restful sleep again she'd suck it up and stay at Heartland for as long as she needed. What she needed now was rest for her growing child and was already willing to make those deals to keep him or her safe, unlike her own father's inability to keep his child safe.

Amy closed her eyes, rubbing her hands roughly over her face to try and get rid of that bitterness. If she wanted to go home she needed to stop blaming her father for everything. She needed to forgive him and show him how much she needed him, not some strangers. Ah, who was she kidding? He'd made it very clear he didn't want her back when he hung up on her. Her heart ached remembering his hurtful words and she lowered a hand to run over her stomach.  
"Don't worry. I'll never do that to you," she murmured quietly. There was a time not long after she discovered her pregnancy that Amy seriously considered alternatives to becoming a mother. She was barely eighteen, broken, scarred, and terrified. Not a lot had changed since then, but she came to terms with her new future for the most part, willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be the best mother she could learn to be. But this relocation to Heartland was something unforeseen and threw her world even more off its already askew axis. Anything more and she wasn't sure she'd be able to hold on to her sanity.

Moving her hand, Amy pushed the covers aside and carefully got out of bed, navigating to the window to see if she could figure out how to open it to let some fresh air in. Luckily, it was just a case of flicking the lock and giving it a good tug. Cool country air wafted in from a slight breeze, caressing her abdomen. "Smell that? That's what air is supposed to smell like." Living in the city destroyed her senses from the pollution. Aside from the unpleasant farm animal stink, there was an obvious cleanliness of the fresh mountain air she could appreciate. She leaned out the open window, closing her eyes and letting the wind hit her face, taking in deep breaths. It was way cooler at night than during the day, she'd almost prefer to sleep outside. Except for the, you know, wildlife.

Opening her eyes after a while, Amy gazed through the shrubbery outside her window toward the barn. It looked different at night. The whole ranch did – not quite as intimidating, yet so eerily quiet.

Amy always found herself to be bolder at night while the world slept, when there was no one around to watch and judge her. She could get away with things that were frowned upon in the daylight. In recent months that whole mentality reversed and she became apprehensive of the night. She dreaded sunset because it meant darkness was falling and the world became a monstrous domain. For the first time that night in what felt like a long time, she looked out at the dark and wasn't so afraid. It was strange, almost unsettling, the sense of calm that she felt listening to the silence beckon her.

Sliding into her slippers and digging a light sweater from her half-packed suitcase, Amy moved quietly out of the house where she nearly tripped over Lobo sprawled out in front of the door.  
"You poor thing." She scratched his head when he scrambled clumsily to his feet and followed her down the steps and across the driveway to the barn.

The large door was open enough for a person and dog to walk comfortably through, though within a few feet was too dark to see much. Amy could hear horses in the stalls, waking up to check out their visitor. Their breathing was so loud it made her skin prickle. They sounded a lot bigger in the dark. The manure smell was just as bad as this morning and she held her breath while searching for a light switch, kicking a bucket that clanged loudly in the quiet. A horse grunted in surprise.  
"Ow." She whispered in a harsh tone, leaning on a saddle rack while the throbbing in her toe subsided. The leather was hard and smooth beneath her hand from years of wear. It smelled like a dirty shoe store in that corner of the barn. This whole part of the world was a shock to her senses, but she was beginning to realize that it wasn't all as unpleasant as the farm animal stink made it out to be.

Proceeding more cautiously, Amy felt along in the darkness for the wall next to the saddles, her fingers bumping over a switch she flicked up. A light came on in the small alcove next to her that held large garbage cans labeled with what she could only guess was some sort of horse feed. It wasn't the overhead light she was searching for, but offered enough light that she could at least see where she was going. And the five sets of eyes watching her curiously. Earlier when she was in the barn there was one horse taking up residence; now there were four filling the small space to capacity. She recognized the horse from this morning and Jack's horse, but the other two she had no clue about. At any rate, she kept her distance from them all and pushed open the door to the office, locating the desk lamp and flicking it on.  
She had the tour earlier, but didn't get a very good look before things went south. In the soft yellow glow, she took a better self tour, turning around where the saw the herbs and oils laid out on the table and hanging to dry out. What she didn't notice before was the old leather-bound journal that lay open, rough sketches of some kind of plant in the corner and handwritten entries neatly scribed along with some less uniform notes in the margins. The pages were yellowed and curled from age and wear. Amy loved old things – things with history. The book drew her to it and she touched the weathered pages, trying to read it in the dim lighting. It was a recipe for something called Valerian.

Amy lifted the book off the table to bring it closer to the light. Turning, her eyes caught the shadow of someone standing in the door way.

"What are you doing?"

She jumped so bad she hit the desk with such force the whole thing shifted and tipped the lamp over. In an attempt to save it from toppling off the desk and breaking she dropped the journal to make a grab for it.

"Smooth." Ty stepped into the light as Amy righted it, walking over to pick up his mother's journal she dropped.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to sneak up on people?" Amy quickly went from startled to annoyed when she realized who it was. She really hated when people did that to her. More so because of what she associated it with.

Fixing the couple bent pages of the journal, Ty then closed it. "Says the person who's wandering around in the middle of the night," he challenged before adding, "and snooping," gesturing with the book then walking around the desk to slide it onto the bookshelf.

As he walked by her, Amy caught a strong whiff of him and made a face. "I couldn't sleep. Why do you smell like a bar?" It wasn't an unfamiliar scent to her at all and triggered a lot of old memories from home – mostly unpleasant ones.

"Gee, I don't know," Ty's sarcasm made Amy's brow furrow even deeper.  
"I'm just asking," she muttered through a tight jaw, turning with him. "Jack was worried when you took off earlier."  
Ty scoffed, his lip curling. "Yeah. I bet he was." Worried he'd get a phone call that his grandson needed to be escorted home, more like.  
"He didn't say anything, but I could tell." Neither one of those men were the type to wear their emotions, but Amy was aware of the way Jack glanced out the kitchen window while they ate and then went out onto the porch to feed a few scraps to Lobo and take the trash out two separate times.  
"Well, he had you to keep him company so I'm sure he got over it."  
Amy closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Please don't say you're jealous of me, because-"  
"Oh, don't flatter yourself." Ty cut her off. "Jealousy isn't part of my emotional spectrum. I'm just trying to figure out what your deal is."  
"You seemed to have that all figured out this morning." Amy gave him a cool look, still bitter about his harsh assumption.  
Ty pressed his lips together and lowered his gaze. "Yeah. About that. See, I have this problem where I don't think before I speak, especially when I'm upset about something."  
"So I've learned. It was about Kit this morning, wasn't it?" Amy knew all along it was about that girl. There was no other reason for Ty to go off on her the way he did when the phone call had been so harmless. It was turned into a much larger issue than it needed to be and Amy sure as hell wasn't taking the blame for that.

Ty ran his hand over the back of his neck, feeling the tension still there. "Yeah. In a way." He answered after a beat, not really wanting to admit he'd been emotionally compromised when he lashed out at her but, well, he was and knew he'd been wrong in how he reacted. He just needed to face being the bigger person and apologize – in his own roundabout way.

"Care to elaborate?" Amy asked, seeking further explanation. She should have known she was reaching.  
"You first," Ty challenged, cocking his head. If she wanted to play that game he could too. She shut up real quick after that, both predictable and also frustrating.  
"Doesn't seem fair for me to share all my secrets if you won't return the gesture." Ty argued a reasonable point and Amy knew it.

Tired of the argument that always came when she told him to mind his own business, Amy went with a similar approach as she had with Jack earlier that evening. "No, I suppose not." The suddenly dumbfounded expression that crossed Ty's face was oddly satisfying. "So nevermind then. Just forget I asked."

Ty wasn't sure if Amy was being serious or trying to corner him into revealing something without knowing it. "Okay." He eyed her suspiciously for a moment, waiting for the punchline until she was no longer looking at him and had her attention on the table of herbs.

"What's valerian?" Amy asked, recalling what she'd just been trying to read before Ty startled her and subsequently put the journal away.

It took him a second to answer. "It's an herbal supplement."  
"What's it for?" Amy inquired.  
Ty was still eying her uncertainly. "It's a calming extract we use for nervous horses," he further explained.  
Amy stepped closer to the table. "And it works?"  
"Do you really care?" Ty raised a brow, causing Amy to send him a reproachful look over her shoulder.  
"You know, I'm making an effort to bury the hatchet here even after the shit you said about me this morning without so much as an apology," she snapped.  
"Well, I can't really apologize for being wrong if I don't have proof that I am now, can I?" Amy didn't exactly deny his assumption or offer an alternative and she obviously missed his indirect apology just a minute ago.  
"My word should be proof enough. I'm not a whore." Her voice lowered, that old bitterness arising again.  
Ty shook his head. "Unless you want to tell me the truth, why shouldn't I assume the worst?"  
Amy's mouth closed as she stared at him through the dim light, her hardened expression softening so fast Ty thought she might start to cry. "If you think that's the worst, then you don't want to know the truth," she finally answered, effectively making Ty a little bit uneasy.  
"So set me straight." His voice became lighter, less harsh and more inviting for her to speak up. He didn't like the way she answered him, didn't like the sudden whirl of thoughts that began to bombard his mind as a fissure erupted in his image of Amy. He began to realize that whatever he wanted to think about her and her history was probably a lot further off than he thought.  
"I can't," Amy barely whispered, her stomach starting to twist with anxiety.  
"Why not?" Ty pressed, taking a step closer to which she swallowed and took a step back.  
Her head shook. "I just can't."  
"Is someone looking for you?" Part of Ty's assumption was that the father of Amy's child was some dealer she owed money to and would be looking for her in search of payment, or retribution.  
"No." Even she could hear the uncertainty in her answer. The tilt of Ty's head told her he did too and didn't believe it as he stepped closer still.  
"Why don't you sound convinced?" His interrogation was making her nervous and she began to feel lightheaded and sick to her stomach, backing away from him while he pressed her physically and mentally.  
"No." She tried again with more conviction, but her anxiety made her voice weak. She began to feel trapped in the office with the doors at Ty's back. He had her cornered, though still stood a respectful distance away.  
He was purposely pressuring her as if she were a defiant horse in the round pen, chasing her around and around until she had nowhere to go except to join him in the center of the ring. It was standard practice there on the farm with all of their animals. Even the most stubborn of them ultimately made the choice to come to the center. He could see her walls starting to crumble, but became unsettled by the building fear in her blue eyes the more he herded her into the corner.  
"If there is someone looking for you, you need to tell us. You're putting this whole ranch in danger." He stopped with her against the cabinet, watching her chest heave shaking breaths.  
"I d-don't know." She finally answered, her words nearly strangled in her throat.  
"You don't know? So there really could be some psycho out tracking you down?!" His voice rose, making her flinch.

"Please, can you just…" Amy glanced over his shoulder toward the open door. She needed him to back up. He needed to back up before she threw up all over his shoes.  
"Just…?" Ty prompted, holding his ground. She had more than enough room to move around him but still seemed frozen despite her obvious desire to put distance between them.  
"You're making me uncomfortable."  
"Am I?" He could see he was, but he wanted her to tell him why. He wanted the explanation. "We're just talking. You can leave if you want. Unless there's something bothering you you want to share first."  
Amy's eyes darted from Ty to the door, yet she still didn't move. She was afraid if she tried he'd grab her and the thought of that terrorized her. She should have stayed in bed. Curse her curiosity.  
"Come on, Ty. Stop playing games."  
"If anyone is playing games, it's you, Amy. Where the hell did you come from and why are you here? We don't harbor fugitives and we're not a halfway house."  
"I'm not. I told you I-" Amy's voice rose.  
"You didn't want to come here, yes, so you've said. But why did you, then? Why did your father push you on us?" Ty demanded.  
Amy began to crack under the pressure. "I don't know. I don't know! I don't know why he chose you. He said it was the safest place for me, I-"  
Ty cut her off again. "Safest place from what?" He stepped closer, narrowing the space between him and Amy. The way she reacted, if she could have climbed on top of the filing cabinet she would have. She didn't want him near her and Ty could tell he was really pushing things to the brink, but he wanted answers and wanted them now.  
"Stop it!" She yelled at him in a mixture of anger and fear. He was freaking her the hell out, feeding off her anxiety and she knew it yet couldn't help how she was reacting. It was pissing her off just the same because he was doing it deliberately.  
"Just tell me what the hell is going on!"  
"What the hell _IS_ going on?" Jack stepped into the office, making both of them stop and gape at him. Amy relaxed slightly against the cabinet when Ty took a step back out of her personal space, until her stomach turned and she folded over to retch onto the floor.


	19. Chapter 19

"What in God's name is the matter with you?!" Jack rounded on Ty as soon as he sent Amy back to the house – much to her visible relief. She was clearly shaking as she gave Ty a wide berth on her way out of the office, avoiding looking at either one of them as her hand touched the top of Lobo's head to get him to come with her. Even in her obviously upset state, she still sought out comfort in the damn dog Jack was so adamant about keeping outside.

Ty was shaking his head, ready to turn and go back up to the loft where he'd been sleeping until he heard Amy wandering around in the barn and came to investigate. "Seriously? I was this close," he emphasized with his thumb and index finger, "to getting some real answers."

"Not that way, you weren't." Jack was almost afraid to discover what would have happened between Ty and Amy had he walked in any later than he had. He saw the look of fear, borderline terror, in Amy's eyes when Ty had her pinned in the corner. Any confession Amy made would have come from that place of self-preservation and most likely left some scars behind in addition to the ones she already harbored from whatever traumatized her to begin with.  
"What did you think you were doing, terrorizing her like that?" Honestly, Jack didn't even know his grandson to see him acting in such a predatory way toward a young woman. It was almost unsettling to think his conscience accepted it as okay.  
"I thought I was doing what your bleeding heart is clearly rendering you incapable of doing."  
Jack couldn't have been more appalled. "What you were doing was bullying her into giving you what you wanted. It was assault, Ty!" How did he not realize that?  
Ty was getting so frustrated with Jack's passive attitude when it came to Amy. They didn't even know this girl and he was acting like a protective father; while Ty, his true blood, was being treated like a criminal. "You may not like my method, but I was getting some real answers and you might like to know that there is a very high possibility that there really is someone out there tracking her down."  
That made Jack fumble. "She told you that?"  
"She said she didn't know, but she feared the possibility; which means maybe I'm not such a monster after all." He knew from the very start there was something more sinister going on with Amy; Jack was just too soft-hearted to demand the truth that had obviously been covered up simply because she was a young girl in a delicate condition.  
Ty was more than aware of Amy's condition, but after all the shit he went through a few years ago and the time he spent in jail, he had no patience for a game of secrets and lies. He'd been there, done that, and did hard time for it, learning too late what the truth could have saved him.  
"You can't tell me you don't get the bad feeling that something else is going on here;" Ty continued in a calmer state, "something that goes beyond a child out of wedlock."

After taking a breath, Jack's posture relaxed slightly as his argument with Ty turned back down to a conversation. "Attacking her like that is not the way to find out," he reprimanded. "I know there is something more to the situation. I knew that the moment Tim Fleming phoned. I tried to get the truth out of him but he was as tight-lipped as his daughter, which means whatever happened for him to want to send her away is serious and delicate. We can't just go traipsing into business we know nothing about."  
Ty shook his head. "It's too late for that. She's here now, which puts us right in the middle of whatever is happening." He tried not to sound accusatory, but it was hard to mask and the look on Jack's face said he picked up on it.  
"Well, right now the only thing I see happening is you apologizing to Amy for being a Class-A jerk."  
Ty frowned. "Why should I apologize when she's the one lying to everyone?"  
Jack grunted. "Maybe you should think back a few years to your time in prison and reassess that statement; you might find some commonalities to help give you perspective. You found your way to the truth eventually. We need to give Amy that same chance."  
Though he didn't want to concede, Ty realized that once again Jack was right. It took him a long time to readapt to life outside an orange jumpsuit and barbed wire fences before he could even begin his journey back to the delicate respect with his grandfather after rather violently opening up about his years away from Heartland and what ultimately brought him back home.

It was Ty's silence that gave Jack all the answer he needed. He could see the internal argument in Ty's eyes and left him alone to sort them. "Another early day. Get some sleep," he said in parting before turning to head back up to the house.

Ty remained rooted in the same spot he'd been since cornering Amy, watching his grandfather's shadow disappear before glancing back over his shoulder into the tight space previously occupied by a girl he presumed to be selfish and foolhardy, perhaps even naïve. But without the blind irritation and demand for answers, he could see her face more clearly. A ghost in the shadow of the pale lamplight on the desk and the genuine fear of him that still hung heavily in the air. Maybe not of him, exactly, but of what he showed her he was capable of representing – which seemed to be just as dark as he believed.

* * *

Amy sat on the wooden bench along the side of the wrap-around porch facing what she believed was once a vegetable garden. It didn't appear to have seen any care in quite a long time judging from the dehydrated dirt and dead stalks of brittle vegetation. Weeds sprouted from the chicken wire that made a weak perimeter, obviously burglarized by wildlife. She curled her legs to her body, folding her arms over her abdomen in a protective cushion, staring blankly into the night, listening to the chirp of tree frogs and soft wheezing of Lobo at her feet. She didn't want to go in the house just to go back to staring at the ceiling. Not to mention her adversity to getting reprimanded again by Jack for having Lobo in the house after the bone chilling confrontation she'd had with Ty. Her eyes began to sting while her memory involuntarily began reliving the moment. Amy dropped her head down to her knees, still feeling sick. Despite the heat, goosebumps rose on her arms, making her shudder and curl further into herself.

The sound of boots on wood made her glance around to see Jack stop just as he was about to open the door, noticing the subtle movement. Amy turned her face abruptly away from him, not caring that he saw the deliberate motion. She didn't want to talk to him even if he was going to try to comfort her, especially not if he was going to try to reason Ty's behavior again.

Her eyes closed, willing him to just let her be and go back to bed, but that didn't seem to be in Jack Bartlett's nature as his boots approached. He seemed to realize trying again to apologize for his grandson was a fool's errand.  
"The dog can come inside. _Just_ tonight," he emphasized, extending the only olive branch he thought she might accept. But to his surprise, she declined.  
"That's okay. House rules." He couldn't tell if it was sarcasm, but her muffled voice hinted more at defeat. He could hear the exhaustion in tone and it was more than just a few nights of restless sleep.  
"Suit yourself." Jack wouldn't press her for more. She'd been through enough and he could see she just wanted to be alone. Other times he didn't oblige, but this time Jack let her be, heading to the door. He paused after the creak of the storm hinges. "There's crackers above the fridge if your stomach is still sour," he added, paused again seemingly wanting to say more but ultimately decided to just leave things go and went to bed.

After hearing the click of the latch to ensure Jack was in the house, Amy breathed deeply through her nose, still reveling in the fresh scent of late spring. Wiping around her eyes that became itchy from drying tears, she slowly leaned over and stretched herself out on the bench, having to bend her knees slightly to fit. Using her arm as a pillow, she hung the other over the side to stroke Lobo's thick coarse fur.  
She needed to tell them – to tell someone. They had every right to know who the girl was that was living in their house. Amy realized this. Right away she understood the new precariousness she brought to the balance of life at Heartland. The truth was – she was afraid. She was afraid of what people would think if they knew; what kind of new way should would be treated (not that things were particularly flattering now). Mostly, she was afraid of what would happen if she did tell the whole truth – to her, her father, even her unborn child. Even if she did want to tell, wasn't entirely sure she would be able to emotionally handle it. Just the small incident with Ty left her shaking and sick to her stomach and he didn't come within actual touching distance. Though her terrorized mind didn't comprehend it then, she was in no real danger in the barn. Ty had stopped advancing when he saw her begin to panic. He'd hesitated when he picked up on her true fear but instead of backing down, persisted to his goal. But, for however brief a moment, Ty had acknowledged the truth.


	20. Chapter 20

Amy woke with a start, making an attempt to quickly sit up but stopping abruptly when her body resisted. It was daybreak, a pale light dousing the world in blue hue. Lobo sat beside the bench, tongue lolling out of his mouth from rousing his companion with a few face licks. Wincing, Amy pushed herself up more slowly, gradually working out her stiff limbs from having slept on the hard bench. For a while she sat in a daze, staring at the floor while her brain re-calibrated at a sluggish rate. In gradual snippets, the night before came back to her and she looked around to once again remind herself just how far away she really was from everything familiar to her. The weight hit her as heavily as it did each morning while she absently stroked her burgeoning belly, making a snap decision that seemed to have blossomed while she slept.  
Unaware of the actual time, Amy got up to make her way quietly into the house in hopes of sleeping a couple more hours before being inevitably woken by Jack starting his day. It was the weekend, so she was betting on a later start.  
Sadly, upon entering the kitchen she found Jack just placing a filter in his archaic coffee pot. He turned to watch her come in, brows raising into his disheveled hair. "You sleep out there all night?" It seemed a rhetorical question; why else would she be trying to sneak in at the crack of dawn? But Amy wasn't in the mood for her trademark snark.  
"It wasn't intentional," she half grumbled, sliding into a chair at the table. "It's Saturday," she observed stupidly, watching Jack mill about his morning routine.  
"Yeah," he answered, going to the fridge to take out a carton of milk and set it on the table.  
"You don't sleep in on the weekends?"  
"Well, I could," Jack answered her as if her questioning wasn't ridiculous. "But then there'd be a ranch full of upset critters."  
"I thought there were ranch hands." She seemed to recall some mention of a Caleb, but then remembered he had quit or something. But it seemed odd to her that he would be the only help on a ranch that size. The inmates were only a weekday occurrence. Even they got the weekend off.  
"There are." Jack poured himself coffee then inquired with the pot at Amy who shook her head. "Oh, I could heat some water for tea if that's better." He'd forgotten coffee wasn't a recommended beverage for pregnant women.  
"No, that's okay." Amy slid from the chair. "I'm going to try and sleep a little longer." She paused in the door way. "Unless you have some chore or something you need me to do at the ass crack of dawn."  
"Actually, since you mentioned it," Jack started, stirring sugar into his coffee, but stopping when he saw Amy's expression that dared him to continue. "Set your alarm for seven," he redirected, taking a sip out of the mug.  
Amy nodded, "Fine," then made a B-line for her bed.

Exhausted from her rough night on the bench, and just in general, Amy passed out almost as soon as she laid down but it felt like just as quickly the alarm on her nightstand was screeching at her. Groaning and feeling worse than when she woke up before, she slammed down on the machine to shut it off and tried to fall back asleep. As it turned out she was then awake and reminded of Jack's request for her to get back up at seven to help with something. Remembering her word to herself, Amy made a great effort to get up and dressed. She made a quick stop in the kitchen to eat something light, still battling stomach discomfort, and headed outside into the rising sun.

She paused outside the barn, looking for Jack but not wanting to run into Ty again if he was still up in the loft. Unfortunately, she never seemed to have luck in that department and almost as soon as she poked her head in, Ty rounded the corner and collided with her.  
Amy yelped and leaped back like a dog that was just stepped on. Ty reached out to steady her by latching onto her upper arms. "Oh, sorry!"  
In a blind panic, Amy flung herself backward out of Ty's grasp, tearing his hands away from her when he instinctively gripped her tighter.  
"Let go." She tripped over her own feet in her fight to get away from him and fell ungracefully to the ground.  
"Jesus," he murmured, not entirely sure what just happened but reached down to help Amy off the ground, hoping she hadn't hurt herself.  
"Don't touch me!" She shouted at him angrily, a mix of anxiety and embarrassment in her eyes as she recoiled from his offer to help.  
Ty's hands retracted quickly at her severe reaction, finding it odd how she always went out of the way to avoid being touched. From the first moment they met, she wouldn't even shake his hand – an innocent and common human formality. At first he just thought she was being rude, but now he was noticing that it was almost like she was afraid.  
"Sorry," he said again a little harsher, standing back and watching her pick herself up. "I was just trying to help you."  
"Well, don't. I don't want your help." She brushed herself off, swallowing hard. Her eyes burned with a threat of tears that she tried to keep out of her voice. Her fingers trembled as she took extra time to brush the dirt from her legs, not wanting Ty to notice how badly shaken she was.  
"Yeah, you make that pretty clear." Not in the mood to continue going rounds, Ty just left her standing there and went back to his business and she was glad for it.

As soon as he was in his truck, Amy ducked into the barn, taking refuge on the steps leading to the loft. They were out of the way of any frequent traffic and gave Amy a place to pull herself back together. She closed her eyes, trying to get the images Ty conjured from their encounter to stop. She rocked slowly, rubbing her temples and trying to breathe deeply and slowly to calm herself down, but all she wanted to do was cry. She was still shaking and feeling sick all over again as a chill seeped through her, cold as concrete in February, a cold she knew in her bones.

Opening her eyes, Amy hoped that looking at the barn would soothe her subconscious and remind her that she wasn't there. She was here. But when she looked down the steps saw Ty staring back at her and froze.  
He was looking at her oddly, an expression she couldn't understand. Ashamed and embarrassed she got up quickly and pushed by him, Ty giving her wide berth and letting her go. He felt guilty, knowing he just witnessed something he probably wasn't ever meant to see and it bothered him a great deal. He saw her in that moment – really saw what inner demons she was fighting and so unwilling to confess.

After a beat of inner debate, he backtracked to follow after her. "Wait. Amy." Ty called out to her when he caught her striding quickly back across the driveway, arms wrapped tightly around herself, head bowed low. From the beginning Ty knew there was something not at all right with the situation and Amy was definitely hiding something. Now, having caught her in such a distressing moment of vulnerability, he wondered if her secrets weren't warranted. Something terrible seemed to haunt her; Ty saw it in her eyes the night before in the barn office and again just then. As much as he couldn't stand the girl, he wasn't without a soul, or even a heart at times.

"Amy." Ty caught up to her despite her intent to ignore him, making a move to reach out and grasp her arm to get her to stop, quickly taking his hand back before he made contact, having learned that hard lesson. Instead he moved to step in front of her, which didn't seem much better but did result in her stopping, if only long enough for her to step around him and redirect her path.  
"Please don't," she pleaded with him, knowing full well what he wanted from her. She didn't want to be confronted now. She wasn't ready for it.  
Ty persisted, perhaps stupidly stepping in front of her again. "Come on, Amy. I'm sorry for running into you. It wasn't on purpose. I didn't hurt you, did I?" That wasn't exactly what was concerning him, but having found her the way he did just moments after the incident he felt the need to ask.  
"I'm fine," she answered generically, knowing full well she wasn't. But it wasn't Ty's fault. He wasn't the one to hurt her.  
Ty studied her face despite every effort she made to avoid looking at him. "But someone did, though. Didn't they?"

Amy's jaw clenched and her eyes burned as she tried to fight an immediate threat of tears. If she didn't like Ty before, she hated him now. Her eyes glassed over as she glared at the ground, heat rising to her face as her heart pounded in her ears. _Don't say it, please don't._ She couldn't bear to hear it out loud.  
"Let me by," she said in a very low voice, the only tone she could manage without it wavering.

Ty studied her closely. She wouldn't look at him and with her head ducked as low as it was he couldn't see much more than the tip of her nose that flared as she struggled to maintain steady breath. He waited several long moments before giving up and stepping aside, feeling like that despite receiving no verbal confirmation, he'd just discovered Amy's dark secret and why she found herself at Heartland's door.


End file.
